The Way We Were
by Chelsee6
Summary: PhilSam. starts back when they were at school together. what would happen if Phil didn't fall in with the wrong crowd and develop all his bad habits? hope you enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: What would have gone differently if Phil hadn't landed in with the wrong crowd at school? Would have had turned out differently?

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Chapter 1

Sam wandered down the deserted hallway, not really paying attention to where she was going, she knew the route by heart and it was easier when there weren't other students around. Not that she planned to get a detention, it had just worked out that way, what with her geography teacher being an absolute prick and incapable of teaching. If he had actually passed in a teaching course at university as he claimed he had then he wouldn't be telling them that Mount Kosiosko was in Japan. Sam had pointed out in front of the class that it was actually in Australia and he had given her a detention for being rude, were teachers even allowed to do that? Sam started paying with a strand of her long blonde hair it was about five inches below shoulder length and dead straight, her short skirt offset her lightly tanned legs and her shirt was a shapeless piece of crap that didn't show off any of her curves, not that Sam minded, if it did her mother would have got in a complete strop with her and forced the school to change the uniform. She was already picky enough with the skirt. Sam heard a voice behind her and whipped her head around, "You make a habit of walking round with you eyes closed?"

"What's it to you?" she snapped recognising him as the new boy.

"Nothing, I was just wondering if, with your obvious amazing ability with direction, you could tell me where Turner Street is."

Sam grinned in spite of herself, he was uniquely charming in a way most boys failed in. Comic witty and casual at the same time. "Sure, I'm on my way there myself so I can take you if you want"

"That'd be great" the boy smiled and he offered her his arm. She took it laughing, "So you were watching the spectacle at lunch then?" she asked grinning.

"How could I miss it?" he asked raising his eyebrow. "So who was that guy?"

"That's Andrew, it's his ambition to start up his own computer business and become a millionaire. He was just repeating his dream where he walks into a crowded hall of people, all looking up to him, politicians and world leaders, conservationists and actors, and he had this gorgeous woman on his arm, that's where I came in obviously, though I'm not sure why he grabbed me, probably the closest to him" Sam remarked casually, she didn't want him thinking that she was over confident and up herself, and the truth was that probably was the reason why he had picked her. "And then he sees this amazing guy in the group of people and he's checking him out decides he'd rather have that, leaves the woman to descend the stairs on her own, and much to the horror of everyone in the room, walks over and kisses the guy. I am quoting by the way, I've heard that story a million times, Andrew has this way of -over emphasizing a point."

The boy laughed, "So that's why he pushed you aside and turned to that guy, I couldn't really hear from where I was. I thought he was mad or summat"

"What do you mean?" Sam asked confused

"Well honestly, who would pass up on you?" he smiled at her raising his eyebrow.

Sam giggled, flushing furiously, she wasn't used to boys being interested in her, they were usually more interested in her sister, who was eight months younger than her and absolutely gorgeous. "What's your name again?" she asked embarrassed.

The boy scoffed and rolled his eyes exaggeratedly, "I'm flirting with a girl and she doesn't know my name, typical. It's Phil"

"Sam"

"Are you the same Sam that got detention for knowing where Mount Kosiosko was?" he asked grinning.

"Why else do you think I'm still here?" Sam asked

"You could be in trouble" Phil raised his eyebrow, he liked this new school, they were a lot laxer on the uniform, most girls had their skirts above the knee in varying lengths. Sam's was only a couple of inches, but there were some girls who had four or five inches above the knee.

Sam looked down at the ground, she was what some would refer to as a closet goody-two-shoes. In the school ground she was loud, and she had a big group of friends, but she worked hard at school, had never been in trouble and got good grades.

"You wanna do something crazy?" Phil asked his eyes dancing mischievously.

"Depends, what do you define as crazy?" Sam asked smiling mischievously.

Phil grabbed her hand and Sam felt a tingle shot up her arm, he pulled her down a side street and ran towards the river, Sam ran after him so she didn't fall over. Phil stopped near a paddle boat hire shop, Sam had always wanted to go on them but her parents never had time and her mother wouldn't let Sam on there on her own. When Sam had been seven her cousin had pushed her into the river as a joke and Sam had been fine but her mother had gone over the top, _you'll catch a death of cold, you could have drowned._ Phil grinned at the attendant "Alright Alfie?" he asked

"You right there Phil?" the attendant answered grinning, his grin looking a bit like Phil's.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna borrow a boat yeah" Phil didn't even bother waiting for an answer leading Sam onto a single boat, sitting her down on the seat and pushing her off. He got into his own boat which was blue where Sam's was red.

"It's just like a bike, you pedal forwards you got forwards, you pedal backwards you go backwards. Use the steering wheel to steer" he explained seeing she didn't know how to use one, "Come on, follow me" Sam tried but it was hard, especially trying to keep her skirt from riding up, eventually she didn't bother trying and by then she was completely soaked so it didn't matter anyway, it was stuck to her legs. She and Phil had been going somewhere but they got sidetracked and had ended up having a water fight. Phil had pulled up near an ice cream stand, it was so close to summer it was hot enough to get sweaty and he yelled out to the man tending it, "Can I have- what do you want?"

"Umm- vanilla thanks, not actually I'll have strawberry" she answered he grinned, "Two strawberry's thanks" he yelled. A minute later the man came down and handed Phil two strawberry comes, "It's one the house" he told them grinning, it was so sweet to see young love.

"Cheers mate, I owe you one" Phil beamed and leant over to pass Sam had ice-cream. It was almost dark by the time they got back to the boat shack and they pedalled the boats into the boat shed, Alfie was packing them away for the night. Phil and Sam walked down the street hand in hand, Sam stopped just outside her house, "Ummm, I should go" she murmured sadly, she had had a great time that day and she didn't want to go home.

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow yeah?"

"Sure" Sam nodded

"Can I just ask one question, will you go out with me?" Phil asked, his eyes still dancing.

"Yeah" Sam grinned, a slight blush rushing over her cheeks, Phil smiled happily and leant in, pressing his lips against hers for a moment. Sam could feel them, warm and sweet, then they were gone, leaving a hole, but it didn't feel bad, it just made her anticipate their next kiss even more. Then he winked at her and walked back down the road. Sam watched him until he entered the house a bit further down and across the road then she went inside.

"Where have you been young lady?" her mother snapped as Sam closed the door.

"I got detention" Sam muttered rolling her eyes.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing"

"Well you must have done something"

"I got a detention for knowing where Mount Kosiosko is" Sam shouted. "Our geography teacher is an idiot and he though it was in fucking Japan"

"Don't speak like that young lady"

"Why the bloody hell not? What do you care you fucking hypocrite" Sam shouted, her mother was one to talk, she swore all the time.

"Why not? Because I'm you mother that's why" Sam's mother shouted back.

"That doesn't mean you get unconditional respect where everyone else has to earn it, you could try and earn it too, but then again you have no idea how, you never spend anytime around me unless it's to tell me what to do" Sam shouted, a tear running down her flushed face.

"That's not true, I spent time shopping with you last weekend"

"Yeah, telling me what clothes I should want to buy, you don't know anything about me"

"I know you like ballet"

"That was when I was _six_! I hate ballet, I've been learning guitar for three years now, and speaking of that I have a lesson tomorrow, I need to practice." Sam stormed up the stairs slamming her door. She plugged in her amp and struck a chord. The vibrations ran through her claming her down a bit and she tuned up, pulling her music stand over she started playing her most challenging song. It had a great instrumental but it was really hard, add that with voice and it took up all her concentration so she couldn't dwell on her argument with her mother. As long as she had it turned up to a reasonable volume. A minute later and Sam's mother stormed in, she turned the volume down on the amp and turned to Sam, "You don't walk away when I'm speaking to you, and you can't have given this –noise up for ballet. I'm re-enrolling you in classes"

"I won't go, like I said I hate ballet" Sam shouted, she couldn't believe that her mother would be so unfair.

"Fine, but your –guitar is taking time away from your studies, I'm not paying for you lessons"

"You refused to pay for them in the first place, I got a job remember" Sam shouted, she couldn't believe her mother cared so little about her daughter.

"That's taking time away from your studies too, you're quitting next time you go"

"No, I'm not, I love my job. You can't tell me what to do mother, I'm not five years old any more, if you try to stop me doing what I want I'll run away"

"I'm only trying to do what's best for you"

"No you're not, if you were you'd be doing to same to Caroline"

"She doesn't have your brains sweetie, you can do anything you want and I want to give you the best opportunity possible"

"No you don't you want me to follow in your footsteps and become an award winning surgeon, you want me to find a cure for cancer and you want me to acknowledge you at every awards ceremony so you can say, I taught her everything she knows and you can take credit for what ever I do. You want to live your life through me and you want me to do what you never could because you're just a lowly maternity ward attendant."

"Don't you dare talk to me like that young lady" her mother warned

"Debs-sorry, Deborah, leave her alone, let her practice her music, you're only young once" George had come to intervene.

"You know the whole point of a marriage is to support one another, why is it you _always_ undermine me?" Deborah rolled her eyes and stalked out the room muttering, "Insufferable know it all"

George came over and sat beside Sam's bed, "She doesn't mean it sweetie, she'll be proud of you no matter what"

"No she won't" Sam murmured, he tried to think of something to say but came up blank, she was right. Pulling his daughter into a hug he let her cry into his shoulder, he had lost count of how many arguments he had had to break up between the two of them and he was getting tired of it.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Sam's dad brought her dinner up to her room that night, Sam refused to eat in the same room as her mother, she had threatened to take her music away from her and that was not easily forgiven. After and hour of practice her fingers began to hurt so she put her guitar away and turned her CD player on full blast. Letting the deep base line calm her she drifted into her mind remembering the day she'd had with Phil, it had been so perfect. Eventually the CD finished and Sam fell asleep.

The next morning in home class Sam sat at her usual seat by the window, Phil walked in a few minutes after her and looked around the room, his eyes rested on her and he smiled. Sam felt a delightful shiver run through her and she smiled back. Cindy watched this scowling, "Phil, come and sit next to me" she called. Phil's gaze turned on her and he smiled, but it was a different smile, previously it had been a _happy to see you _smile, now it was an _I'm not interested_ smile.

"Thank, but no thanks" Phil replied and he crossed the room to sit next to Sam. His hand found hers and their fingers intertwined together. Cindy's scowl deepened and she vowed Phil would be hers no matter what.

At lunch that afternoon Phil and Sam waited in line together, they were jabbering about the film they had just watched in English, and where as Sam had seen Phil's fun side the other day she could see he was smart too, not a brainiac, but not an idiot either. The two of them walked over to the two tables some students had pushed together and sat down, "Hello, who's this?" Andrew asked smiling at Phil, his eyes running up and down him appreciatively. "I'm Phil" he extended his hand they shook. Sam recognised the look in Andrew's eyes, Phil was a marked man, Andrew seemed to be under the delusion that he could turn any guy he wanted and it seemed he wanted Phil. Sam bowed her head down not wanting to cause a fuss and she started eating her lunch.  
Phil didn't recognise the look in Andrew's eyes at first but he remembered what Sam had said the other day and it dawned on him, it was very similar to the look that Cindy chick had been giving him. The _I want you _look. "Sorry mate, I'm straight" Phil told him straight forwardly.

A girl across the table snorted into her drink, "Wow, he has you sussed" she commented before cracking up into giggles. "I'm Mick" she said extending her hand. Phil reached out to shake it and she wrapped her arms around him, "I take it your not used to hugs then?" she laughed when he took a moment to respond. "You'll get used to it don't worry, one term here and you'll be addicted."

"Oh, right…is Mick short for something?" Phil asked not quite sure what to make of her.

Mick grimaced, "My idiotic parents decided it would be great to call me Michelle, urgh. And about the hug thing, it's like initiation, you have to hug everyone" she looked at him seriously. Then whipped around and pulled up another boy by the scruff of his neck "This is Addy, he's our whiz kid, helps you understand what the hell the Latin teachers talking about."

"Hmph, thanks Mick, brilliant introducing skills, you should become a doorman or something, on second thoughts you'd probably refer to Margaret Thatcher as the up herself pome git."

"If I was in the same room as Margaret Thatcher I wouldn't be introducing her I would be tying her to a chair and painting a clowns face on her, now _Hug!_" she shoved Addy towards Phil and he rolled his eyes and hugged Phil.

Phil had been watching all this with confusion, he didn't know whether to follow along, burst out laughing or run away yelling. "They are a bit much at first, but you'll get used to them eventually, you'll be surprised how quickly you'll fit in." Sam murmured in his ear. "We'll see about that" he muttered as he hugged another person, introduced as Camilla. Next on the hugging block was Andrew and Phil almost refused seeing the smirk on his face, but before he could he was lifted off the ground and replaced just as suddenly. They were a weird bunch, Andrew was tall and solidly built with jet black hair and brown eyes. Mick had mid-brown hair, cut an inch below her earlobes and she had pale skin, a thin face and striking, almost clear-grey eyes. She was quite short, an inch or so shorter than Sam. Addy, which Phil assumed was short for something like Patrick-Paddy or Adrick, was an inch shorter than him with sandy hair and freckles, he was a bit chubby but it suited him. Camilla was tall, about his height with light brown skin and black eyes. Her hair was in lots of braids pulled back in a pony tail. Another boy, Ethan was very dark skinned, almost black. His hair was frizzy and in a sort of layered afro, he was quite short, half and inch shorter than Phil. Two other girls, twins Penny and Gabriella, they had black, curly hair and green eyes but apart from that they were completely different. Penny had a straight nose, long and covered in light freckles, Gabriella had glasses and pale skin, off set by the dark hair she look like a ghost. Another girl had red shoulder length hair, her blue eyes were large and they seemed to dance, she was introduced as _the mischief maker_, Tamara. Jess, a sweet caring person was introduced as _mummy to us all_, she was the one you went to when you needed to talk about your problems. And Liam was the comic relief, a regular stand up comedian with a new routine every day. Last but not least it was his turn to hug Sam, Mick had said, as she had introduced him to the group she was lucky last.

Sam felt her heart beating faster and faster, even after the kiss the day before she was still nervous, he was her first –boyfriend, she hadn't even mentioned this to the others yet, how would she tell him, how could she phrase it without coming out like a total idiot? She felt Phil's warm arms envelope her and her heart quieted, it felt right, she felt happy and safe, then Phil did something she didn't expect. Tipping her chin up with his forefinger he pressed his lips to hers again. The warm sensation sent shivers through Sam's spine, his mouth opened slightly and her heart started pounding again. She could feel nothing but the kiss and she felt like it would last forever, but even that wouldn't be long enough. Their tongues met and Sam's heart almost stopped. Gently probing into his mouth she tasted him for the first time and her mind fizzled out, she couldn't think of anything, she was electrically aware of the gently feeling of his tongue against hers, and she felt him pull away slowly. Her mind came back in a flood and her heart started again, racing so fast and so hard she could have sworn everyone could hear it. Phil smiled down at her and pressed his lips against hers once more before wrapping his arm around her shoulders and sitting down. Sam noticed that her friends had been cheering and laughing and she joined in.

"You got in quick" Mick commented, "Lucky, elsewise I would have had my eye on him, but you know what they say, mates boyfriends are off limits" Sam grinned and felt a tap on her shoulder, she turned around to see Mr Beckingham leering at her.

"You young lady have detention, same with you" he turned to Phil

"Bollocks, what for?" Sam exclaimed

"For kissing in school" he replied with a nasty grin.

"You jealous prat, just coz you ain't getting any don't mean you can go wrecking other peoples fun" she shouted, Sam might have been timid in front of her friends some of the time, but if someone challenged her right to do something she wanted she would be right in their face.

Mr Beckingham was speechless for a minute, no doubt no student had ever spoken to him like that before, when he recovered his face was a blotchy mix of red and purple, "Come with me" he shouted glaring at her

"Why should I? you gonna take my advice to heart, no thanks" Sam retorted, it took him a minute to work out what she'd said, everyone else had worked it out long before and had burst out laughing. When his mind had finally figured out what she was talking about his face went completely purple and Sam had to restrain herself from laughing.

"I'll be having a word to the principal and your mother about his young lady" he glared at her.

"No you won't" Sam declared, she lent forward conspiratorially so no one else could hear. "Or I might just mention to the wrong people why Jimmy Taylor _really _left the school, is that why your miserable, missing him?" her voice was full of venom, she couldn't stand nonce's like him, the ones who got away with it were the worst, her dad would have sorted him out but unfortunately Jim had made her promise not to tell anyone and Sam didn't break promises lightly.

Mr Beckingham's eyes widened with fear and he took an involuntary step back, "What did you say?" he rasped

"You heard me" Sam replied threateningly, she wouldn't have actually gone through with it but he didn't know that. He swallowed and look one last look at her malevolently glinting eyes and turned towards the door. "God that guy had bad breath" Sam said, loud enough for him to hear as he was leaving.

"Woot, that was _brilliant_!" Mick exclaimed hugging her tightly, "What did you say to him?"

"Never mind" Sam smiled secretively and she turned back to her lunch, leaning slightly against Phil.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

From that day Sam and Phil were inseparable, they spent every waking minute together and every sleeping one dreaming about the other. At school, when they weren't in class they were attached at the hip, Phil had his arm around Sam's shoulders and she had hers around his waist. Either that or they were attached at the lip, but only when Mr Beckingham was on duty. Sam and her friends loved watching him glare at them from the other side of the room , but he never said anything, probably afraid of a repeat of last time. The term ended and they spent a bit more time studying rather than in each others company, but there were quite a few study dates that didn't have much to do with study. Most of the time it was at Phil's house, Sam had met his mum and uncle and they like her a lot. His little brother Steve was also quite cute, in an annoying way. The end of year formal was coming up and Sam and Mick went shopping for their dresses, Sam had been saving her money from her job at Sliver Keys and Strings the local music store and she was able to buy the most amazing dress. It was peach coloured, with a wide halterneck strap, a dipping neckline, a very low back and a full length swishy skirt. She decided to sleep over Mick's house that night so that her mother wouldn't chuck a fit, that afternoon they both washed their hair then put it in curlers. Mick had grown her hair over the last few months so it was just hanging past her shoulders. She had curled the edges up and Sam thought it looked great on her. Sam had pinned her hair up in a knot on the back of her head, with ringlets cascading down her bare back. Phil and Addy picked the two girls up from Mick's house at six in their hired limo, the four of them had chipped in a bit and Addy's parents had contributed considerably too. Phil reaction when he had seen Sam dressed up, descending the stairs had been impressive. Mick had laughed later saying his jaw was inches of the floor, and his eyes were popping out of his head. Sam had leapt from the third step up, into his arms and he had twirled her around, their lips joined in a sweet kiss.

Dancing in Phil's arms that night Sam had never felt so happy, they drove home in Phil's car, his cousin had dropped it off in the carpark for them. "Do you wanna come in?" Phil asked

"Wont we wake you're parents?" Sam asked _aren't your parents home? We can't._

"No, they took a trip down to Kent this weekend, see if they can track dad down" _we can, don't worry, no one to catch us. _Phil and Sam had agreed a while ago to refer to Phil's mother and Uncle collectively as his parents, it was easier and as his dad wasn't around there was no reason not to. Phil and his mum and brother had moved in with Lynn's brother when his dad had skipped out to avoid the aftermath of a big job.

"Yeah, ok" Sam answered smiling and Phil lead her into the house. Sam soon as the door was closed their lips met in a fiery kiss.

"You sure you wanna do this?" Phil asked, making sure

"Yes, you?"

"Mhmm" Phil answered they walked up to his room, Sam's heart was pounding, each step seemed to make it go faster and make it lighter at the same time. She had never been so sure of something in her life, but she had never been so equally nervous. Phil closed the door and they watched each other in silence for a minute before they lent closer, and closer, the kiss was sweet and slow, Sam undid the first button of Phil's shirt and suddenly the kiss deepened. Sam was running her hands over Phil's bare chest before she realised it. They parted and Phil pulled the halterneck over Sam's head. He dislodged some pins and Sam reached up, removing the key pin and letting her hair cascade down her back. Slowly he pulled the zip down on the back of her dress, it fell to the floor and Sam felt his warm skin against hers. He reached behind her and began fumbling with her bra as she fumbled with his belt, eventually she was too frustrated and she pulled back, reaching behind her she undid the clasp that he was struggling with. In turn he undid his belt buckle and then pulled her towards him, picking her up with one hand behind her back and one under her knees. Gently he lay her on the bed and he lowered his mouth to hers for a sweet kiss, Sam felt his hands on he side of her thighs, pulling at her underwear, she rested her hands on her bed behind her and lifted her body slightly so he could get them off. Phil twisted and moved so Sam had to lean backwards, he moved into the kiss and shifted so he could get his boxers off with out parting his lips from Sam. Her eyes were still closed and he closed his again as he got up and lay himself down beside her. Running his hands up her smooth stomach to her breasts he felt warmth tingle through his fingers feeling her nipples harden beneath his touch. Feeling her moan with pleasure he felt her fingers running up and down his back they got tangled in his hair making his scalp tingle. Breaking apart their kiss he moved down her neck, kissing the skin gently and marvelling at the goosebumps he left behind. Moving his hands down her sides he reached the underside of her knees and he pulled them up, parting her legs. Gently he eased himself into her he heard her cry out in pain and he looked down at her concerned. "It's ok" Sam whispered and he kept going.

A couple of hours later Sam opened her eyes, looking at the clock she saw it was three in the morning. Cuddling up closer to Phil she pulled the blanket over her shoulders so she wasn't cold. Phil moved and put his left arm around her waist. Kissing her cheek gently then her lips he smiled. "I love you" he whispered

"I love you too" she whispered back and they went back to sleep.

"God, wake up and get some clothes on" a voice woke them up, Sam sat up and pulled the blanket up to preserve her modesty, "Mick, what's going on?"

"It's your mother, she's on the war path. She called this morning and demanded to speak to you, I couldn't pass you on so I had to tell her you weren't there" she's ringing everyone to see if you're there. I think she'll try Zoë last so if we get you round there we might be able to avert disaster, from what I gathered she was calling them in alphabetical order" Sam blanched and got up grabbing her underwear and the clothes Mick handed her and ran into the bathroom to change. Phil glared Mick out of the room and changed himself.

Sam and Mick ran breathlessly down the street getting to Zoë's front door they banged on it, the phone began to ring and the door was yanked open before Zoë pelted down the passage to answer the phone.

"Hello?" – "Oh, hello Mrs Nixon, yeah, she's right here" Zoë handed the phone to Sam.

"Mother?"

"There you are, you could have let me know you were staying at Zoë's, I was worried sick"

_Course you were, more like checking up I wasn't with Phil_, "Sorry, I didn't want to wake you when I got back late" Sam lied.

"Ok, as long as you're safe sweetie"

Sam gagged and hung up, "God, I wish she wouldn't call me that" she flopped down on the couch and cuddled a cushion "It's too early to be awake" she muttered.

Her friends were staring at her, "Come on, you have to tell us everything, what was it like?" Zoë asked. Sam rolled her eyes, Mick must have filled her in on her sleeping arrangements.

"Keep you big noses out of it" she laughed, or better yet find out for yourselves."

Mick looked down, "damn, I lost my bet, I bet Addy that Tory would be the first."

Sam laughed, "Good, you deserve it for betting on something like that, and if you spread it round the school, I'll hurt you."


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks to all who've reviewed, you know who you are, it gives me a warm happy feeling inside to know that people are actually reading this. And thanks to all who have reviewed moving on too, it really means a lot. Luv Chez.

Chapter 4

Sam's mum was going down to Cardiff for the day and she decided to invite Phil over, her mum had said something about spending the night there. They watched a video and ate some popcorn, Sam was glad to have the house to herself. When Phil found her guitar he insisted she play him something. After Sam had finished playing they moved together for a sweet kiss. The next thing Sam knew she was straddling Phil, he wasn't wearing a top and neither was she, he had eased his thumbs into her bra and he was gently caressing her nipples. Sam moved her tongue into his mouth further, deepening the kiss.

"What the hell is this?" a screech came from the door and Sam whipped around to see her mother looking as though she was about to have a heart attack. Sam looked at her, trying not to smirk but she refused to get off Phil's lap. Phil was looking nervously from one to the other and he decided it was in his best interests to make Sam move. He stood up and grabbed his shirt, pulling it back over his head. Sam sighed and grabbed her own shirt, she pulled it on and pulled her hair out of the collar, "What?' she asked looking mildly at her mother, she couldn't resist the jab.

"You're not even looking remotely guilty," he mother shouted astounded, turning to Phil she screamed, "Get out, get out of my house, you take advantage of my daughter and you don't even have the decency to look embarrassed.

Sam stood in front of Phil preventing him from leaving. "Firstly, I've never seen anyone look more embarrassed, and secondly he wasn't taking advantage of me, I know what I want" Sam shouted back at her mother, she wasn't going to let her ruin the one good thing she had in her life.

"You're _seventeen_, you can't possibly know what you want" he mother shouted. Phil turned Sam around, "Look, this is between you and you mother, I'll catch up with you later yeah," then he turned to Sam's mother, "Let me just say, in my defence, that I love Sam and I would never do anything to hurt her." Then he left the room. He could hear Sam's mother shouting as he walked down the stairs, "He's not good enough for you, is he going to be able to provide for you? Will he be there for you if you go and get yourself pregnant, would he be faithful?"

"If anything he's too good for me" Sam shouted, "Yes he'll be faithful and yes he would be there if I got pregnant. He can provide love and that's all I need. That's something you don't seem to understand, not everyone is obsessed with materialistic possessions like you, some people actually want things to make their soul whole. I love Phil and he loves me, and I don't care what you say, you're not an expert in this field, you have absolutely no experience so you can't offer an opinion" Sam's face what flushed and hot with anger, tears were running down her cheeks and she was very tempted to slap some sense into her mother, only knowing it would probably slap the ounce of sense she might have left out restrained her.

"No daughter of mine is going to marry a no hoper like that, I'll keep you two apart if it's the last thing I do."

"What are you going to do, chain me to my bed? If you don't give your consent I'll just run away" Sam shouted back.

"You're grounded, I'll speak to you later when you're in a more reasonable mood" her mother said coldly and she left the room, closing the door and locking it. Sam almost screamed in frustration, pulling a holdall out from under her bed she threw some clothes in, her wallet and a picture of her dad, she hated to leave him but what other choice was she faced with? Opening the window Sam scrambled out onto her windowsill, throwing the bag up onto the tiled roof she took one last look at her room, she hated to leave her guitar behind too but she couldn't afford to take it. Sam hoisted herself onto the tiled roof, she lay flat and watched as her mother's car pulled out the driveway, when it was out of sighed she got to her feet and carefully walked across the roof to the climbing trellis her mother had tried to grow ivy on, throwing her bag to the ground she clambered down and she picked it up again and ran all the way to Phil's.

"Hey," he smiled at her, he looked a bit sad.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"…Maybe your mums right. You're used to a lot of money, I couldn't provide that for you…I-"

"My _mother_ is not right!" Sam announced firmly, "I don't care about any of that stuff, all I want is you"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am" at that moment the telephone rang and Phil went to answer it.

"My mum's coming back tonight, you wont be allowed to stay here, if you meet me at the bus stop on Morphett Road at eight tomorrow morning I know there's a bus leaving from there to Kent, I'll get us some tickets." He told her smiling and pulling her in for a kiss. "I love you"

"I love you too, I'll be there" Sam agreed, she knew where she could go till then but it would take a while to get there so she needed to leave now. "I have to go, but I'll see you then" kissing him one last time Sam walked down the garden path and to the bus stop round the corner. An hour later she arrived at her guitar teacher's house, she just hoped he was in.

"Sam, what's up, I don't think we have a lesson today, and you seem to have forgotten you guitar too. Family troubles?" Max asked

Sam nodded, "Can I crash here tonight, I'll be out of your hair tomorrow I promise"

"Of course you can, I take it then you won't be coming to any more lessons then?" he asked letting her into the house

"No, sorry" Sam apologised.

"What are you going to do for money?"

"I was going to get a job when I get to Kent, my auntie lives there and she'll put me up for a while."

"She won't tell you folks where you are?"

"She might mention it to my dad but he won't tell mother"

"Ok, well you want a last jam session? Might perk you up a bit"

Sam grinned, "Sure"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The next morning Sam was waiting at the bus stop at ten to eight, she had gone ahead and got picked up the tickets Phil had ordered the night before and she was waiting for him to arrive. She thought she saw him in the park down the street but she couldn't be sure, she walked closer and suddenly knew without a doubt that it was him, but he was with Cindy! Sam was about to march up and asked her what the hell she was doing but then she saw Phil reach for her hands, he pulled her closer and their lips met. Sam felt as though someone had ripped out her soul and was playing hacky-sack with it. She couldn't believe that just seeing that could hurt so much, turning around she ran blindly back to the bus stop, "Hey, hey, Sam, what's wrong?" Max stopped her, by throwing his arm out in front of her and pulling her into a hug.

"I just saw Phil, he was kissing _Cindy_" Sam sobbed combing her hair out of her face and wiping her eyes.

"Oi, come here, it'll be ok, I don't care what you say you're coming to stay with me for a few days" Max told her pulling her into his arms and smoothing down her hair with one hand. Sam was glad she had him he was like the big brother she had never had.

"Ok" Sam agreed nodding, Max ushered her into his car and he went to exchange the tickets, they got ninety percent of the money back and then they drove off. A moment later Phil came running up from the opposite direction. "Hi, I reserved two tickets in the name of Hunter" he told the man out of breath.

"Sorry, reservations been cancelled, a girl came and picked them up walked down the street, I saw her hug this guy hand him the tickets and he came and exchanged them then they drove off" The man explained seeing the pained look on Phil's face.

Lynn went to answer the door which was almost being beaten down, who on earth had the audacity to call at eleven o'clock at night. Throwing the door open she glared at Deborah Nixon, "What do you want" she demanded curtly

"I want my daughter to come home," Deborah barged into the house and looked around as if expecting to see Sam sitting on the sofa, "Come on Sam, this had gone past a joke, come home this instant" she shouted.

"If you'd take a moment to check I could have told you that she's not here" Lynn told her, as polite as ever but her tone was beginning to grate.

"Bollocks, I caught her and your son half naked in her room, of course she's here, and if she's not then your son knows where she is"

"Firstly if she was here I'd have sent her home before now, secondly she couldn't be here with out my knowledge and thirdly, I heard what you said about my son and you might stop to think whether you are ever going to see you daughter again. It's my experience that truculent teenagers don't like being forbidden to do things, if you let them do it in your proximity then you are at least aware of where they are."

Deborah was sent reeling by this, she had never been spoken to in such away by someone she didn't know, "My daughter is anything but truculent thank you very much, and if it weren't for bad examples like your son she wouldn't even dream of being so inconsiderate and rude"

"My son is not rude, he knows he can come and talk to me about anything and I wont judge him, I will try and help him through it and I will support his decision. He knows I won't abide any drugs or alcohol and he conforms to that. I know how to raise a child thank you very much. And from what I've heard you and your daughter had drifted apart long before my Phil came on the scene"

Phil had been woken up by this commotion, it had been two long days since he had seen Sam and he hadn't managed to get any sleep or eat anything either. He watched Deborah for a moment trying to think of something insulting enough to say in return then he interrupted. "I haven't seen Sam in two days, yes we were planning to run away together because she couldn't stand you and your expectations, she wanted to live her own life. Sam's a free spirit and she can never be tied down, she out spoken determined and she will do what ever the hell she damn wants no matter what. I've only known her for eight months but they were the best eight months of my life, I love her and I thought she loved me so if you have any idea why she might pack up and leave like this why don't you tell me? If you don't, ask her if you find her, or better yet ask the other guy she ran off with, he's probably more likely to tell you the truth because after what you put Sam through I'd be surprised if she ever spoke to you again."

"What do you mean _what I put her through_?" Deborah demanded affronted.

"Ever since she was four you've been forcing your own goals upon her, you enrolled her in ballet school, when she complained she hated it you ignored her. She had to put up with it for two years till you went back to work and her dad agreed not to take her any more. You've been pushing her to get good grades and to do chemistry and biology both subjects which she hates, you want her to become a doctor she doesn't know what she wants to do yet but she doesn't want to be a doctor. She's told you this time and time again, but do you listen? No, you just tell her to stop being petulant and get on with it. I'm not surprised she's had enough and I'm not surprised she wants to run away, but I am surprised she hasn't contacted any of her friends since she disappeared two days ago. Frankly I don't think she wants to be found, and when she doesn't want to be found your chances of finding her are zero." Deborah looked at Phil strangely, if it had been anyone else he would have said it was guilt but in a moment it was over, apparently she'd had enough of being insulted and she curtly walked out the door, gathering what dignity she had left and taking it with her.

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	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Sam had been staying with Max for a month now, she had just made him dinner and sat him down, she needed to talk to him. "I wanted to thank you for all you've done for me, there's something I haven't told you…that I probably should have…last week, I found out….I'm pregnant" she stammered

"Are you going to keep it?"

"Of course" Sam replied

"Is it Phil's?"

"Of course" Sam replied a little more subdued, even the mention of his name made her miserable and sent goose bumps coursing through her body. She missed him so much, each day was a struggle, her heart was aching to have him nearby and her head had a whole lot of mixed up thoughts she needed to get out in the open, usually she would have talked to Phil but now he wasn't there and she was going to have to learn to cope on her own. "Well your staying here, at least until it's born, my conscious wont let me let you leave. After that we can decide what's happening" Max decided

Sam smiled appreciatively, "Thanks"

Eight months later:

Sam screamed as she gave a last push bring her beautiful baby daughter into the world. Exhausted she collapsed on the bed and fell asleep. She woke up when the nurse put her baby in her arms, she had been checked over and she was perfectly healthy, Sam sighed in happiness. "What are you going to call her?" Max asked

"Abigale Grace Michelle Lynnette Nixon" Sam answered

"Great name, why the choices?"

"Abigale and Grace are my grandmothers' names, Lynnette is Phil's mother and Michelle is my best friend" Sam replied.

"But you don't speak to her any more" Max reminded her

"I know, but it's too risky, don't get me wrong I want to, but my mother would find me, I know she would. And she might still be talking to Phil, she might tell him she's seen me"

"Ok, you don't have to justify yourself to me, do you know what you're going to do now, I'm not kicking you out or anything, but I'm not going to be around for ever"

"I know, I was thinking I could keep working at Silver Keys and Strings for another year, help out with the rent and that while I'm completing an online course in psychology. Then, when Abi's old enough I could enrol at Hendon, and go through the graduate system, I got good A level results and I already sent in an application for the course. They accepted a couple of days ago"

"You want to be a cop?" Max grinned, "Watch out criminals, Samantha Nixon's on the beat"

"Yeah, I've been thinking about it for a while now and that's what I really want to do" Sam smiled

"And if you run into your dad?"

"I'm sure he won't say anything to mum if I ask him not to, and if I do mores the better, I miss him so much but I can't risk making contact with him on purpose, mum would find out for sure."

"Sounds like you have it all figured out, what use am I then?"

"Moral support" Sam replied and hugged him tightly.

Phil stared across the river, it had now been a year since Sam had disappeared, he still missed her but now the hurt was a continuous dull ache rather than the sharp pain that he had felt every time he thought about her. But now it was obvious she was never coming back and he had to get on with his life as best as he could.

"What are you thinking?" Cindy asked stroking his hair back from his face.

"You asked me before what I was going to do with my life now, I think I'm going to enrol at Hendon"

"A copper, that's a great idea, I'm really proud of you" she smiled and pulled him in for a sweet kiss.

"I'm proud of you too sweetie" he whispered, Cindy was planning to start her own hair salon in a few years, she already had acceptance into a hairdressing course at university.


	7. Chapter 7

I wanted to take this opportunity, as all the other chaps were pre-saved I forgot to thank my reviewers. But thanks to every one who read this and especially thanks to everyone who reviewed. I love you guys, Phoenix-Angelwolf, Emma, Bex, Stacey Ellen, Chicken and Samantha-Nixon. You all keep me writing, hope you don't mind this chap of the fic, but the idea of the fic was to see if it would work if Sam and Phil had a past together but everything that happened in the show was actually happening. You know like who whole deleted scene idea. Anyway, enjoy and please please please review! It reminds me to update.

Chapter 7

Fifteen years later: (originally Sam was the acting DI and Manson was brought in after her, well in this story it's the other way around.)

Sam walked across the car park of her new station, she was just clocking in for the day and she saw people heading out, just finishing their shifts. One of them caught her eye and she twisted so she could see him better. Her throat went dry as she recognised him as Phil Hunter. He was talking on the phone so he didn't notice her. Seeing another woman standing beside the building having a smoke Sam went over to say hi, "Hello, Samantha Nixon, the new DI" she smiled

"Gina Gold, Inspector" the woman shook her hand. Sam turned to survey the carpark, "Who's that?" she asked pointing towards Phil.

"That's Phil Hunter, I'm glad you're the one who has to put up with him and not me, he stuffed up one of my obbo's today and he's going to be scrubbing toilets for the next week if I have my way"

"He's yours, what did he do?"

Gina grinned, she was going to like this woman, especially if she let her make Phil scrub toilets, "he alerted the punter to our presence by forgetting to turn his mobile off, apparently he's having marriage troubles"

"He's married?" Sam exclaimed surprised, "Who to?"

"Why, you interested?" Gina grinned

Sam smiled back, rolling her eyes, she had developed hiding her feelings to an art form and was really good at it now, the profiling course had really helped. "I don't think so. One, inter-office relationships are always messy, especially when one is a superior and extra especially if it's the woman. Two, he's married and I make it a policy not to date guy on the rebound or married men and three, he really doesn't look like my type. I like them a bit more intelligent"

Gina chuckled, "You've got him down pat you do, you take a profiling course or summat?"

"Yeah, I did actually" Sam admitted.

"Ah, your doubly useful then, welcome aboard"

"Thanks"

The rest of that day Sam spent assimilating to her surroundings, she met the rest of the members of her team, DS Debbie McAllister, DC Ken Drummond, DC Jim Carver, DC Eva Sharpe, DC Mickey Webb, DS Neil Manson, DS Ramani DeCosta and DC Terry Perkins. Her DCI, Jack Meadows seemed really nice and she was sure she'd get along with him really well. She worked a case with Suzie Sim that day and got a feel for her style, she had been in CPT before her placement there, and she reminded Sam of her self, an aspiring young officer, wanting to climb the MET's ladder. She was desperate to get a job as DS but she was too addicted to the rules, she wasn't willing to bend them to get a result. Sam went home happy that she had a great new job, when she opened the door Abi bounded out of the kitchen grinning, "So, how was it?"

Sam raised eyebrow, "Have you been getting into the sugar?" she asked.

"No, I just got a call from Max, he says that he's having a great time in Indonesia and he says to say hi and give you this" Abi put her hands on her mum's shoulder and kissed her cheek. Sam giggled rolling her eyes, "You're too much, the both of you." During the years since Abi's birth Sam had lived with Max until Abi was five when she'd got her own place. But they still remained as close as a brother and sister could be, Sam owed so much to Max and she wasn't going to forget it. Early on, some people had mistaken them for a couple and the two of them had just cracked up laughing.

"So, did you have a good time at work?"

"Yeah, it was great" Sam answered evasively, she was thinking about Phil again, her mind had kept wandering back to him all day and one question kept repeating itself. Who was his wife? Sam hoped to god it wasn't Cindy.

"What aren't you telling me?" Abi asked. That was the problem with being so close, Abi could always read her like a book.

"I-erm…I ran into your father today, he's working at the same station I am, he's a DS there" Sam admitted.

Abi's eyes widened, "You're kidding?" she exclaimed.

Sam shook her head, "I can talk to him, if you want…you know, to meet him and that" she offered.

"This is the guy you saw kissing some other girl the day you were meant to be running away together right?" Sam nodded, "Then no, I want nothing to do with him" Abi answered stoutly, Sam breathed a sigh of relief, she decided that the best course of action would be to treat Phil like any other officer, pretend she didn't know him at all and if he wanted to bring something up he could.


	8. Chapter 8

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Chapter 8

Phil walked into the station sighing, he had had a massive row with Cindy and then spent the night on Steve's couch. It was probably over for good this time. He saw Debbie sitting at her desk staring off into space. "Hello, what's the new DI like then?" he asked smiling.

"She's good, but she wont put up with any nonsense from you" Debbie answered.

"Nonsense from me? What on earth are you talking about?" Phil mocked.

"Like mucking up obbo's by not turning you phone off, or putting it on silent. I heard she agreed to let Gina make you clean the toilets for a week if she wanted to. Lucky for you Gina didn't want to" Debbie replied laughing at Phil's look of disgust.

"Hello Debbie, Suzie" Phil heard someone greeting the other two officers that were in the office at this ungodly hour. Something in that voice made him freeze, the pit of his stomach felt like lead and he knew even before he looked who it was. Turning around slowly he stared in wonder at the short, blonde woman he was still madly in love with. She looked absolutely gorgeous, her hair was shorter than he remembered it, but her eyes were still the same remarkable shade of green, and he was sure if she was smiling he would see her perfectly white teeth. But she wasn't smiling, she was looking at him, but it was like she didn't know him, _could it really be her then, didn't she recognise him, maybe she would when she heard his name_. "DS Phil Hunter isn't it?" she asked coolly. Ok_, maybe not, maybe it was just some one that looked a lot like her, if she didn't recognise him_. "I'm Samantha Nixon, your new DI" she held out her hand an he stared at it dumbly for a minute then shook it, he felt an electric shock run up his arm, remembering the time when her hands had been moving over his body, her lips had been attached to his. He could almost feel her naked body pressed against his. _Very_ bad thoughts to have about your new superior in the office. "Nice to meet you" he stammered.

"Likewise, now I'm sure you have some work to do" she hinted and she pulled her hand out of his grasp and returned to her office. Leaning against the door she breathed deeply, forcing her pounding heart to slow down. She was glad that was over and she hoped to avoid all physical contact from now on, she knew one more episode like that and she'd probably do something stupid.

Debbie looked at Phil strangely, "What was that?" she asked.

"What?" he asked snapping out of his trance.

"You couldn't stop staring at her, and you looked at her like she was some sort of alien being. And you didn't let go of her hand, she had to yank away from you" Debbie pointed out.

"Erm –it was nothing" he muttered

Debbie grinned, amused, "Ooo, does wi'l Philly have a cwush on his new boss" Debbie cooed in a sing song voice, gloating.

"No!" Phil declared adamantly, "And if you don't shut up wi'l Philly's gonna stick your head where the sun don't shine." Phil threatened. Debbie just laughed and turned back to her computer screen.

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	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Sam and Jack were having a drink later, getting to know each other outside work. Sam had only known Jack for a short while but she already felt like she'd known him all her life. He was really easy to talk to and get along with, and he sort of reminded her of her dad. She missed him so much recently and she resolved to see if she could track him down. Jack cleared his throat, "So, Samantha Nixon, any relation to the famous George Nixon" Sam stared at him flabbergasted, how did he know her dad?

"Come on, you have to have heard of him before, he was my Sergeant back in the eighty's, but then something happened with his daughter, I think she ran away but I'm not sure and he transferred to Kent. His marriage fell through after that. But he was the best of the best, faced down four gunmen and persuaded three of them to put down their weapons. One of them shot at a bystander and he threw himself in front of the bullet, hit him in the arm. Bounced right off his humour bone it did. Got the George Cross for it too. A couple of days before he transferred up to Kent." Jack explained.

Sam looked down embarrassed, "Yeah, I've heard of him" she admitted quietly, "He's my dad…I was the daughter that ran away"

Jack looked at her shocked for a moment, "Do you mind me asking why?"

"My mother was a complete control freak, she wanted me to become a doctor like her and she wanted me to follow in her footsteps, only problem was I wasn't interested but she didn't care. I met this boy in collage and we started seeing each other, she didn't approve so I didn't tell her and one night we had a massive row because she found about us and she said he wasn't good enough for me. We planned to run away together but then I saw him kissing my ex-best friend. I disappeared after that and I never saw any of them ever again" Sam admitted, she didn't know why she was spilling her guts to an almost perfect stranger but it felt good to get it off her chest.

Jack was silent while he absorbed the information, "Have you ever tried to contact you dad, he was absolutely shattered when you disappeared. He even threw himself in front of a bullet. I think he hoped it would kill him" Jack told her.

Sam nodded, actually I'm thinking I should try and find him now, he would probably want to meet his granddaughter"

"You have a daughter?" Jack asked astounded, he knew Sam was single and he had heard that she had a reputation for being a bit cold and distant, not letting men get close to her no matter how hard they tried.

Sam nodded, "Abi, she's fifteen" she answered

Jack's eyes widened, _fifteen _that was the same age as his daughter. Sam smiled but didn't comment on his obvious surprise it was Saturday the next day and she was going to make a trip to Kent.

Not long after, Sam excused herself and she drove back to the station. Letting herself in and walking quietly down the corridors she smiled, she was going to find her dad. And she should probably look up where her mother was too, just in case she changed her mind and wanted to get in contact with her. She walked into her office and jumped as she saw Phil curled up on the two-seater couch in there. It had been left in there from the last DI, now DS Manson, gossip suggested that he had broken up with his wife and he had kipped on that frequently. Phil heard her enter the room and he sat up rapidly, "What's the time" he muttered

Sam looked at her watch, "Almost one in the morning, I didn't know it was common practice for people to sleep in my office, I'll have to lock the door from now on"

Phil grinned and Sam's heart increased in speed again, it had already started racing when she had realised who had invaded her office. "Won't do any good, the lock doesn't work" he muttered rubbing his eyes. "What are you doing here at this time anyway? You like work that much?"

"No, I'm looking something up" Sam rolled her eyes, she couldn't believe she still felt so relaxed in Phil's company, but he was married, even if it was on the rocks.

"I was gonna say…"

"What?" Sam asked curious

_I was gonna say, you used to love your beauty sleep_ Phil thought, but he didn't say it, "Nothing" he murmured.

Sam was going to ask but she decided it would be better not to know. She turned on her computer and searched for George Nixon. Phil had turned over and was now trying to get to sleep but he knew he couldn't, not while Sam was there. It brought back too many memories. Sam found an address for her dad and left the office quietly, just in case Phil had gone back to sleep. She would have offered him the spare room at her house but she didn't know if she would be able to mask her feelings at home. And there was the added problem of Abi.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Sam had returned home and went to bed, she got up at nine that morning and left a note for Abi saying that she was going out for the day and she might not be home till the next day. She knew her daughter was very independent and she would be fine. She would probably go and spend the night with her friend Crystal. Sam drove steadily, she had a break at about eleven and she got to Kent about twelve thirty. She found the house she was looking for about twenty minutes later but it was one o'clock before she worked up enough courage to go and knock on the door.

The door was opened by a man she barely recognised, he stood straight and proud but his face had worry lines etched into the skin, his eyes seemed to have lost the light they used to have and his mouth didn't look as if he could smile. "Yes?" he asked, he didn't seem to recognise her, it wasn't surprising it had been sixteen years.

"Hello, I'm erm…" Sam stood awkwardly in the door unsure of what to say, a new phenomenon, she and her dad had always been able to talk, about anything. They had been able to while away hours without realising it. Sam realised what she had missed out by not trying to find him sooner, she had missed out on years and years of enjoyment and she felt terribly guilty. "I'm sorry to have troubled you" she murmured and turned back down the path, she couldn't do this.

"Hang on a moment, you must have wanted something, you're here now you may as well tell me" her father said, his voice was still precise and clipped but it sounded a bit gravely, harsher than she had remembered it.

Turning back and blinking back the tears in the corner of her eyes she swallowed, 'I just…I just wanted to say I'm sorry" she murmured quietly.

He looked at her reservedly for a moment, as if trying to place where he remembered her from then his face softened and a bit of the light returned to his eyes. "Sammie?" he asked, his voice no more than a whisper. His posture seemed to falter and his shoulders slumped a bit. "Come give your old dad a hug hey" he told her ambling down the path towards her. Sam closed the gap and wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders.

"Come inside," he ushered her into his living room and put the kettle on, "So, what have you been doing with yourself?" he asked, the question was so normal, it didn't sound appropriate for their first meeting in sixteen years.

"I worked for a while, getting some money together" Sam started

"I thought you would have come here to live with Sophie, you know she hates your mother and would never have told her where you were"

"I was planning to, but my plans were altered a bit…it's a long story. I ended up staying at Max's for a while"

"Max….? That's your guitar teacher right? God, why didn't I think to look there?" Sam saw the look of pain in his face and felt even guiltier. "Hey, don't feel guilty," her father said, reading her like a book, some things never change. "I understand why you had to do it, you had to get away from her, I know. After you were gone she tried it on Caroline and I knew I had to get her out of there otherwise she'd be as messed up as you were. Though, to your credit you could have been a lot worse."

Sam smiled, it was almost like old times.

"Though I don't know much about you do I, you could have gone completely off the rails after you left" George's eye twinkled.

Sam grinned, "That's right you don't, so I'll go on with my story if you don't mind" she joked. "After I worked for about two years while I did a profiling course then I enrolled at Hendon, now I'm a DI at Sunhill Police Station"

George whistled, "I'm so proud of you sweetie, who would have thought it, my daughter a DI" he chuckled to himself.

"Yeah, one of your old PC's is my DCI" Sam told him, Jack had told her to say hi to George for him when she saw him.

"Really, who? No wait, don't tell me, its Jack Meadows isn't it?" Sam nodded. "Is he still with Laura?" Sam shrugged, "I don't know, I've only been working there a week"

"Well it's great to see you honey, do you want to stay here for the night?"

"Well, yeah, if you don't mind" Sam agreed, "Unless you want to come to London for a while, I'd love to have you stay with me and you could catch up with Jack, and…there's actually someone I'd like you to meet" Sam blushed a little and she saw a twinkle in her father eyes.

"Is it a special man? I always knew Phil was a sensible fellow"

Sam looked down at the table top, "I thought that too" she muttered "I planned to run away with him, but the day we were going to run away I saw him…kissing Cindy"

"Are you sure it was him?" George asked raising his eyebrows

"Yes" Sam nodded.

George sighed loudly, "You saw them in the park down the street didn't you?"

"How did you know that?" Sam asked confused.

"Your mother…Cindy came around the day you broke out of your bedroom…I assume you told Mick what you were doing?"

"Yes" Sam answered slowly, not sure where this was going but no liking the sound of it.

"I think your mum thought breaking you and Phil up was for the best, she called her friend Faye just after Cindy left. A few weeks later I met Faye's son and I was struck by how much he looked like Phil. I believe that the plan was for you to see that and then come home and admit your mum had been right, but it didn't happen that way…I'm sorry honey"

Sam felt as if her whole world was imploding, she couldn't believe what she was being told, her own mother had been the cause of so much heart break. She had cried over Phil for years after she had left home, if she was honest with herself she still loved him. And to know that he possibly still loved her, it was too much to take. "Did…did you keep in contact with Phil after I left?"

"For a while, yes, he kept writing hoping you'd come home and he could talk to you and find where it when so wrong"

"Then you know who he married?"

"You know he's married?"

"Yes…I'm his new boss actually"

George chuckled, "That's fate for you, you can't run from your past or it'll find you and drag you back kicking and screaming. Yeah, I know who he married…he married Cindy" he answered shortly. Sam swallowed hard, her throat had just gone dry and she was finding it incredibly hard to breathe. She took a few minutes to calm herself down, her father was quite happy to give her that time and after she was sufficiently calm as to be able to speak Sam asked, "So, what do you think about coming to London?"

"I think it's a great idea, I've just finished packing" he grinned and Sam smiled back. They headed out to the car and Sam put her dad's suitcase in the boot, she asked him if he wanted to drive but he was quite happy to let her.

Sam and her dad pulled up outside Sam's house at five that afternoon and Sam was glad to see the lights were on, she hadn't mentioned Abi since she had been at her dad's house and she was pleased she hadn't gone to stay at a friends house that night, she could only hope she hadn't invited a friend over that night. After opening the door and depositing the suitcase on the ground she called out, "I'm home" as she took of her coat scarf and gloves. She ushered her father into her living room then went up the stairs to find Abi. She hadn't even got to the first landing before Abi appeared at the top, "hey mum, I didn't think you were getting home till tomorrow, where'd you go?"

"Kent, come downstairs, there's someone I want you to meet" Sam answered

"Mum, what's going on?" Abi asked confused but she came anyway. Sam lead her wordlessly into the living room, "Abi, I'd like you to meet your grandfather, Dad, this is my daughter Abi" Sam, said and waited with baited breath for their reactions. There was silence for a minute then her dad finally said, "I see another reason why you waited two years till you applied to Hendon, I assume Phil's the father"

"Of course" Sam answered nodding. Her dad turned to Abi and looked her over, "She's the splitting image of you, I'd know her anywhere. Pleasure to meet you" he held out his hand and Abi shook it silently. "Ok, I take it back, she's more silent than you were" George commented. Abi grinned at this, "I usually talk a bit more, I guess I'm surprised that mum went to find you with out talking to me first." Abi said softly.

"Oh, right. Well it's nice to hear you two actually get on" George muttered, Sam looked down as her face flushed with anger, she couldn't believe her mum would do that to her. Couldn't she see how much she loved Phil? Or maybe that was the problem, she could see that Sam loved him more than she loved her.

"Well, err- I'll get tea started shall I?" she asked and she left the room hoping to give the two of them time to get to know each other a bit better.

Sam Abi and George spent a great Sunday together, Sam showed George all the pictures of Abi as a baby and growing up, she told him all the funny stories about her first word, her first step, her first crush. Abi was needless to say horribly embarrassed and she, in-turn told her granddad all about Sam's various romantic escapades and how most—if not all of them—had ended in disaster. That made George chuckle, especially when she told him about the time Sam had started experimenting. She had gotten involved with a female work colleague and needless to say it went horribly wrong. That had been when Sam was a PC and Abi had been a toddler but Max had kindly told her that story and Abi had remembered it ever since, it was great for a laugh. After Sam had been well an truly embarrassed they decided to go out for dinner and they had had a great time, Sam was so glad that she had made the trip up to Kent, she only wished she had done it sooner.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

On Monday morning Sam said goodbye to George and Abi and headed into work. She passed Phil and a PC called Nick Klein arguing in the yard but thought nothing about it. Half an hour later Phil came into her office "Sa-erm Gov, I got a call from an informant, he has information that might help to put Rifkin away I was wondering if I could go and meet him"

"Who's going with you?" Sam asked.

"Erm…everyone's busy at the moment Gov, But I don't need nannying, I can go on my own. That would probably be better actually because this informant doesn't like talking to coppers"

"Occupational hazard" she shrugged, "Fine, if no one can come with you I guess that leaves me, lets go" she picked up her coat her heart pounding, she shouldn't be doing this, the situation could only end badly.

"Are you sure?" Phil asked hoping she would change her mind, true he had signed the divorce papers and he was no longer legally married, but being alone with Sam was only something he'd been dreaming about almost constantly since she had arrived out of the blue. Even when he was awake he had been dreaming about it and it wasn't very healthy for his hormones to be in constant action. Surely if they were actually alone together their activity would go up a notch, and that was _very bad!_

I'm sure, come on" Sam agreed knowing that he'd just given her a way out and she hadn't taken it.

Sam and Phil arrived at the meeting place and looked around, the informant was no where to be seen but Phil got out of the car anyway telling Sam to stay where she was. Sam got out anyway, "Wait a minute where do you think—?" she was cut off by the sound of a gunshot and Phil collapsed.

"Phil" Sam yelled out rushing around the side of the car to help him. There was another shot and she pulled Phil behind the car, propping him up by throwing his arm around her neck. Her phone dropped out of her pocket and there was another shot. She changed direction heading for an alcove that looked like it could offer them some shelter. Leaving Phil there she went to try and get her mobile back. She had almost reached it when there was another shot that narrowly missed her fingers. "Leave it Sam" Phil shouted his voice full of agony. She left it, throwing Phil's arm over her shoulders again and half carrying through a green door in the cream wall, it led into a room that looked like it was used for storage with a bookcase and some filing cabinets. She propped him up against a wall and she closed and barricaded the door with one of the filing cabinets. "Who the hell was that?" she shouted.

"Dennis Weaver" Phil rasped. His face was contorted with pain and for a moment Sam actually felt sorry for him. The door buckled, as though something had slammed into it very hard. It happened again and the filing cabinet holding it closed moved forward a few inches. Sam shook her head and threw his arm over her shoulders, heading towards some stairs which descended down to god knows where. Phil almost lost his balance and he left a bloody hand print on the wall. They headed down one corridor after another, they were service tunnels of some kind and they seemed to run on forever. After turning one way and another for a few minutes Sam found a wooden door that was almost rotten through and she moved one plank aside to let them through. Replacing the broken plank she gasped when she saw a crazed man looking in their direction, flashing a torch.

He paused a moment then went on along the tunnel, "Come on Phil, come out come out where ever you are" he called. Sam heard his footsteps moving along the corridor and breathed a sigh of relief. She hauled Phil along the corridor till they came to another room, it had a window to the outside that was about four inches high and it had a two inch thick steel door. She barred it shut with a length of pipe then turned on him. "What the hell is going on?" She shouted "Why does—Weaver want you dead?"

"I shopped him, he lost everything" Phil wheezed. Sam could have kicked herself, she couldn't believe that she'd get herself in this situation. Pulling off her scarf she wadded it against Phil's leg, which was bleeding badly. Sam felt a twinge of regret at treating him like this but she knew if she was nice to him her façade would crumble. Pulling off the tie around her jacket she used that to hold the bandage tight on Phil's leg. "Does that hurt?" she asked as he moaned he winced in agreement "Good" she snarled back.

"God, I can't believe I got myself locked in here with _you_."

"Well come on, I'm a sitting duck, hit me with what ever" Phil told her, his voice stronger than it had been, but he was putting it on, his head was beginning to feel light and he couldn't stop mentally undressing Sam.

"You are a pathetic excuse for a copper, you don't take responsibility for your mistakes, you never see your daughter, from what I've heard this is the second crook who's had you in his pocket"

"I wasn't in his pocket" Phil rasped, "I was covering for Steve, he owed him money, he said he'd cut a deal and let Steve out of it if I cooperated. I thought it was a good opportunity to get some inside information to bring him down, you ask Jack, I cleared everything with him"

"And what about Ron Gregory, were you helping out Steve then too?"

"Yes, he got into drugs, I couldn't just leave him, they woulda killed him" Phil rasped. Sam felt a twinge of guilt for treating him like this, she knew that the Phil she had loved would never be bent, and she had believed idle gossip over him. She also felt sorry for him, she had always liked his kid brother, he had been sweet and innocent, she couldn't believe he was involved in drugs now.

"Who told you about Maddie anyway? It was Nick wasn't it?" he asked, his voice sounding hollow.

"Maddie?" Sam asked frowning.

"Yeah, you said I never see my daughter, you must have found out about her somehow."

"Oh, yeah, Nick told me" Sam agreed. So Phil had another daughter. Abi had a half-sister, something in her mind clicked, she had said he never saw his daughter, so Cindy couldn't be the mother, "Who's Maddie's mother?" Sam asked.

"Christine Weaver, Dennis's wife" Phil answered.

"You were double crossing him and sleeping with his wife, that's a bit low, even for you" Sam exclaimed. She couldn't believe her Phil had changed so much.

"Yeah, stupid, I know" Phil murmured, _she reminded me of you _he thought. He was shivering now and Sam cuddled up against him to keep him warm. He was leaning his head on her shoulder, Sam had her arm around his back. Phil tilted his head up to look at her, Sam couldn't help staring into his eyes. Slowly they inched closer and closer together, Sam could feel his breath on her face and it was sending shivers down her spine. At the last minute though, she turned away. "No, I won't kiss you. I'll save you life, but I won't kiss you" she murmured. Getting up she pulled a small pocket torch out and turned it on, I'm going to see if I can go for help" she told him. He nodded and she left the room, she knew it was the coward's way out but she couldn't stay in that room any longer. She still hadn't decided what to do about what her dad had revealed and until she did, she would have to keep her distance. Sam crept along the corridor and tried looking for an alternate way out without having to go back through the wooden door.


	12. Chapter 12

Thanks to everyone who reveiwed, you know who you are, keep up the good work and here's a chapter for you, hope you enjoy and don't forget to push the nice happy reveiw button. And for those who keep asking when Sam's going to tell Phil about Abi, i'm gonna get there, i will. but for now they kind of need to survive the tunnels.

Chapter 12

Jack was looking around the office, "Where's Sam and Phil?" he asked.

"They went out to meet one of Phil's informants, he said he had information on Rifkin." Debbie replied. Jack looked at the log, but that was over two hours ago, they should be back by now, he picked up the phone and dialled Sam's number. It went straight to message bank. He tried the same with Phil's and it went straight to message bank too, after a recorded voice told him that the phone was out of range. "I don't like this, I'm going to check it out."

"I'll come with you Gov" Debbie called grabbing her coat as se followed the DCI out of the office. The two of them arrived at the site where Sam had recorded they were going to be meeting this informant, Phil's car was there but they were no where to be seen. Jack looked more closely at the car and saw something that made his blood run cold, bullet holes.

"Gov, over here" Debbie stood a distance away and she was pointing at something on the ground. He walked over and saw that it was a mobile phone, carefully, after putting gloves on, he opened it. It was Sam's. "Debbie, can you call SO19 please, get them down here pronto." Debbie nodded and pulled out her phone, walking a distance away so she wouldn't be interrupted. Jack scouted around, he found a door that apparently led to some tunnels. It had some dents in it, like some one had tried to smash it down and inside there was a tipped over filing cabinet. He walked over to the stairs cautiously and gulped as he saw a blood shaped hand print on the wall. He walked back out into daylight and called an ambulance, they would need to be here waiting if one of his officers was shot.

"Gov, you think this could be down to Dennis Weaver?" Debbie asked, voicing his worst fears. "I don't know, he's certainly desperate enough" Jack agreed.

Sam eventually conceded that there was no way out without going back through the door they had come through, cautiously she listened for any sound that might tell her if Dennis Weaver was around. She couldn't hear anything. Warily she crept out underneath the rotten plank of wood. She tiptoed to the end of that branch of the tunnels and listened again, hearing nothing she poked her head out and immediately saw Dennis, he must have heard something because he swung the light in her direction. Sam gasped as she drew back then clapped a hand over her mouth, she couldn't give her self away now, with out her Phil would be dead. Her heart was pounding out of control and only common sense told her that he couldn't hear it as it was like a drum in her ears, though that was fast fading. At least Abi had met her granddad before she died, they could look after each other if the worst came to worst. Sam shrank back against the wall as the flashlight swept towards her, she muttered a silent prayer that she wouldn't be caught. Unfortunately it didn't seem to work because Dennis took on glance back the other way then he started coming towards her. Sam sprinted silently down the corridor, making it through the rotten bit of wood and pulling it back jut in time. She hurried back to the room which she had left Phil in and bolted the door again,

"Sam, is that you?" Phil asked Sam hurried over to him and clapped her hand over his mouth, "Shhhh" she told him, her voice an octave higher than usually because of the fear that was coursing through her body. She waited 'til she couldn't hear Dennis anymore before she removed her hand her body was shaking. Phil could see she was scared and he pulled her in close, "Shhhh, it ok, shhhh" he whispered to her. Sam allowed the tear to cascade down her cheeks, "Are we ever going to get out of here?" she whispered.

"Of course we are, you wouldn't be a very good boss if you broke your promise now would you?"

Sam nodded, she noticed that Phil was bleeding quite considerably through his bandage, she say up and took off her coat then proceeded to undo the buttons on her shirt. "What you trying to do, turn me on?" Phil joked.

"I'm trying to save you life" Sam answered shortly. She removed her scarf and replaced it with her shirt, tightening the belt around it then putting her coat on so she didn't get cold. They waited and waited and eventually Sam heard something. There were footsteps then a banging on the door, she almost jumped out of her skin. Then she heard a voice, "SO19, anyone in there, DS Nixon, DS Hunter?" he called. Sam scrambled to her feet and opened the door, "Are you alright?" the Sargent asked her. She nodded, "But Phil's been shot in the leg" she indicated to where Phil was lying on the ground.

Sam watched as they took Phil away in an ambulance, SO19 had caught Dennis Weaver but he had shot himself and now they were taking away his body. Jack walked up behind her and put his arm around her shoulder, "the medics said he was going to be ok, don't worry about him. You did good in there, how are you?" he asked.

"A bit shaken up" Sam admitted, "I just want to go home"

"You want me to drop you off?" he asked. Sam nodded and he pulled her towards his car.


	13. Chapter 13

**hope you enjoy this chap, sorry its a relitively short one...will update soon, i promise.**

Chapter 13

Jack pulled out outside Sam house and she thanked him, "You want a cuppa or something?" she offered as she looked for her keys.

"Coffee would be great thanks" Jack agreed.

Sam opened the door, "I'm home" she called.

"You're early" her father said coming into the hall, he took one look at Jack and his face broke into a grin, "Jack Meadows, long time no see" he remarked. The two men embraced then George turned to his daughter, what happened to you?" he asked looking her over for any injuries then wrapping her in a warm hug.

"Oh, usual day, getting shot at by a crazy, desperate ex-crime lord, hiding in dis-used service tunnels that have no plans to them, almost freezing to death and almost strangling Phil at the same time." Sam said casually. George raised his eyebrows, "Phil?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah, he seemed to think it was a good idea to decided to double cross a big time villain while under the pretence of helping him out, oh and sleeping with the guys wife at the same time—even fathering her child" Sam muttered. Even Jack blanched at this, "Fathering her child, he didn't mention that"

"He wouldn't" Sam rolled her eyes and sipped her coffee the stood, up, "I'm going to get changed" she muttered. She walked up the stairs slowly, still a bit shaky on her feet. The day had gone past so quickly she had barely had time to order her thoughts or consider what she might do about what her father had told her. She decided that the best thing would be to go and see Phil in hospital. Apologise to him and tell him why she really ran off, if he did reject her she could always get a transfer, though she hoped it wouldn't come to that. She could always transfer to Kent, that way she would be closer to her dad, Abi would have a granddad to talk to.

After a quick shower Sam changed into jeans and a cream coloured jumper and went back downstairs Jack was still there and he and George were reminiscing over old times. At the moment the door opened, "Mum, are you home?" Abi called.

"Yes sweetie, in here" Sam called. Abi came into the room and her eyes rested on Jack for a moment before she turned to look at her mum with a question in her eyes as she gave her a hug. _Is that my dad?_ She was asking. Sam shook her head almost imperceptibly, "Abi, this is my boss, Detective Chief Inspector Jack Meadows, he and your granddad used to work together" Sam introduced them. Abi smiled at him, "Nice to meet you" she said as she shook his hand. "I'm just going to get changed" she told her mum as she walked upstairs. Sam nodded. A few minutes later Jack left, saying he would get Sam's statement in the morning. After he was gone Sam hurried upstairs to Abi's room, she was reading curled up on her bed. Sam sat down next to her. "Abi, today there was an incident, some crazy old man tried to kill…your father, he's in hospital now and I'm going to see him, I was wondering I you wanted to come"

"You're going to see him, after what he did to you?"

"That's the thing…dad says it wasn't actually your father I saw kissing Cindy that day, it was someone my _mother _had setup as a decoy, she wanted me to admit that I was wrong about your dad and come home, she didn't approve of him because of who his family was and where they came from. But it didn't work out that way and I didn't go home. Your dad is…the sweetest, kindest, most loving, understanding, wonderful person I know" Sam told her. Abi was shocked for a moment, she had heard her mother speak of her father before but I was always with hurt and regret, even if she was saying nice things, but now she spoke with a warmth and affection Abi had never seem her mum use before. She swallowed, "You mean your own mother caused you all that pain?" she asked. Sam nodded. "How could she? She was supposed to be your mum" Abi asked confused.

"Unfortunately, some mothers don't agree on what's best for their children, they think they know best and the child should agree with them no matter what. It would be better for them if their child never grew up, then they'd be happy" Sam told her wryly.

"Ok, well lets go and see…dad then" Abi got her coat and Sam George and Abi got into the car and headed for Saint Hughes, the local hospital.

**also promise that Sam will tell Phil 'bout Abi next chapter...**

**Reveiw si vous plait **

**(saw this on someone else's story and thought it was really cute, hope you dont' mind me stealing it, i'll give you credit for it if you want)**


	14. Chapter 14

ok, i got to it, see, i said i would. anyway, hope you enjoy and as always, please please please review.

Chapter 14

Phil was asleep when they got there and Cindy was sitting with him, Abi and George were getting coffee's to give Sam some time alone with Phil before she dropped her bombshell on him so Sam was left to face Cindy on her own. She took a few deep breaths before opening the door, calming herself down before alerting Cindy to her presence.

"Who are you?" Cindy asked glaring at her. Sam was surprised she didn't recognise her and she decided it would be best to avoid a scene for now, "I'm a colleague of your husbands" Sam answered. Cindy narrowed her eyes at her as if trying to decide whether she was lying then she turned back to Phil who had opened his eyes and was trying to sit up, "Ex-husband" he rasped collapsing back on the pillow.

"Yeah, I'm sorry babe, I know I was completely out of line and we can try again. After this…it made me realise how much I love you and…I don't know what I would do with out you" Cindy crooned and she almost made Sam vomit.

"I know what you'd do, you'd find some other poor unfortunate and latch onto them, making their life a misery for ten years" Phil murmured, Sam stored that nugget of information away, they had been married for ten years. "No, I don't want to try it again, I want you to get out, _now_" Phil croaked. As Cindy walked past her Sam hissed, "I know what you did, you didn't get him honestly, you had to trick him into even looking at you twice"

Cindy stared at her wide eyed, "Sam?" she asked horrified to have been caught out.

"The one and only" Sam replied, "Oh, and look here comes Phil's daughter, my daughter" Sam, indicated Abi walking slowly along the corridor carrying two coffees. Cindy glared at her for a moment then slapped her, Sam slapped her back, twice as hard and she left with one hand held to her smarting cheek. Abi looked at her mum perplexed, Sam just indicated for her to wait outside for a little while longer and she returned to the room. Phil was sitting up now, "Sam, there's something I need to tell you" Phil wheezed, though his voice was better than it had been before. Sam sat down on the bed beside him and listened patiently, "When I was it the tunnel, with Weaver trying to kill me, I realised something I should have known, I still love you no matter what I will always love you…and I need to know, why did you go off with that other guy at the bus stop? Why didn't you wait for me?" he asked, "I was willing to leave my family, who I loved very much, my uncle who I owed a lot to, for you, but you turned around and threw it back in my face"

Sam paused for a minute, she could hear the hurt in Phil's voice and she couldn't bare to think she had been the one who caused it, "I'm sorry" she whispered, "When I was waiting for you…I saw someone who looked like you—kissing Cindy, I was upset and I thought it was you. I know I should have known better, I know you would never have done that to me" Sam explained.

"So who was the other guy?" Phil asked finding it hard to accept this excuse.

"That was Max, my guitar teacher, he's been like a brother to me, looking after me till I found my feet, and before you ask, no, we were never together, like I said he was a big brother to me" Sam explained.

"So, you know the rest of my love life, is there anyone special in yours?" Phil asked

"No, there was, once, but I lost him over a stupid mistake and…I still love him" Sam bit her lip, hoping Phil's would read through the lines.

Phil's face slowly broke into a grin, "So, if you found this guy again, and if you resolved that stupid mistake and he said he wanted you back, would you consider it?"

"I don't believe it needs consideration" Sam replied before leaning in and feeling Phil's soft lips against hers, it felt the same ask it had the first time he had kissed her in front of everyone at school. She remembered the argument that had followed and smiled as she pulled away.

"Now we have that cleared up, there's some one I want you to meet…you know how I said down in the tunnels you never see you daughter, I didn't know about Maddie then" Sam told him as she moved towards the door, she turned and opened it and beckoned Abi in. "Abi, this is Phil, Phil, this is –our daughter Abi" Sam introduced them. Abi stood to the side of the room looking awkward as Phil looked her up and down, he was unsure of what to say to his daughter, she would be fifteen and he had never met her. He considered what he might want his father to say to him if he ever saw him again—"She's beautiful Sam," he murmured. His face broke into a grin, "You're the splitting image of your mum when she was you age" he commented, "You gonna give you old dad a hug?" Abi smiled, still slightly apprehensive, and crossed the room to give him a hug. She could see bits of herself in him, the set of her ears, where her mums were small his were a bit bigger, she obviously got her height from him and just other little things, like the way her teeth were slightly crooked on the bottom row, though she had had braces to correct that. She was glad she finally had a dad.


	15. Chapter 15

Sorry it's a short chapter. And very sorry for lack of update, if it happens feel free to send me a pm and kick my arse. It will actually be welcome, because it will mean that you want to read this story and I'm not doing this for the sake of it. It's always nice to know that your work is appreciated. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter. Will update soon, I hope.

If you really want someone to blame though blame Em and Vicki, (yes you Vicki) they got me reading CSI fics…my bad too I guess. And I'm going to stop babbling now and let you get on with reading it. Enjoy. :)

Chapter 15

Phil was in hospital for another week, Sam visited him every say and the night before he was going to leave she asked, "Hey, I know that you and –Cindy split up, does that mean you don't have a place to stay?"

Phil sighed, "Yeah, I was meaning to organise that, thanks for reminding me"

"Err- no, I was asking coz, I was wondering if you wanted to stay with me for a while" Sam offered, blushing slightly, ever since she and Phil had gotten back together they hadn't been able to do much, except the quick kiss every now and then.

Phil looked at her astounded, was this real? He loved her so much and he couldn't believe that they could just pick up exactly where they had left off, albeit they had a teenage daughter now. "You serious?" he asked astounded

"Yeah, if you want it" Sam answered, she squeezed Phil's hand and felt a shiver shoot up her spine.

"Do I? Is the pope catholic?" Phil asked sitting up and pressing his lips gently against Sam's. Sam leaned in and the kiss deepened as she probed Phil's mouth with her tongue. She could feel his tongue struggling against hers for control. The warmth radiating from their joined lips was enough to melt Sam's heart again, it started beating faster and she could feel bubbles of happiness inflating in the pit of her stomach. Phil's hand snaked around her waist and just under her shirt, Sam gasped lightly at his cool touch but it soon warmed up and started tracing little patterns in the inch of skin above the waist band of her pants. Sam felt goosebumps rise up and she shivered in delight. "This is cosy" a voice remarked from the door and the two of them sprang apart like naughty children, though their hands were still entwined. "Jack, what are you doing here?" Sam asked guiltily, what was he going to think of her now, she had only been there two weeks and already she was involved in an inter-office relationship, and they were frowned on in the best light. "I was checking in on Phil, seeing that he was recovering alright, I was wondering if he knew when he would be back at work"

"Another two weeks, sorry Gov" Phil answered.

Jack looked as though he was about to go but then he turned around, "Can I just ask the nature of this relationship?"

"I'm not married to Cindy anymore if that's what you mean Gov" Phil answered. Jack nodded and left. He headed back to his car and was going to drive home when he decided to call in at Sam's house and see if George was still there. Pulling up after taking the short detour he knocked on the door. George opened it and smiled letting Jack in, he poured him a scotch then asked, "So what brings you round here?"

"I'm concerned about Sam actually, she gotten involved with another officer in my department and I was wondering if you think it would affect her ability to govern him or his ability to take orders from her."

George chuckled, "Heavens no, Phil's absolutely besotted with her, always has been, since the first day they met, and Sam equally with him. It was a cruel twist of fate that kept them apart all these years but I know them well enough to say it won't affect their working relationship at all, in fact I think you'll be lucky if other officer even notice they're together"

Jack's eyes widened, "You mean they used to be together before this?" he asked confounded.

George chuckled, "I'll let you in on a little secret, though I never told you this k?" Jack nodded. "They used to be high school sweet hearts, almost inseparable. Phil's Abi's father actually"

Jack almost choked on his mouthful of scotch, "Father?" he asked faintly.

George nodded, "Mhmm"


	16. Chapter 16

i know some of you wanted to know jack's reaction, but unfortunately he didn't really have one. stoic character that he is. so instead i skipped ahead a bit. there are a few references to what he think in later chapters...i think but hey, i'm lazy, so sue me. hope you enjoy this chap, as it will be the last for a little while, am going away for easter, and the place i'm going, lets just say that bush doesn't really do it justice.

Chapter16

A year later:

Sam watched Phil through her open doorway, she knew she should be paying attention to these case files but he was so adorable when he was concentrating. As though he sensed her gaze he looked up and smiled at her, leaving his desk he picked up a file and sauntered into her office and closed the door behind him, locking it with a deft turn of the key. Sam moved towards him for a kiss and a moment later she felt his hands running up inside her shirt, she pulled away. "Not here" she whispered. He pouted and she grinned, "I'll make up for it tonight I swear." There was a knock on the door and the two of them sprang apart Phil collected his file as Sam opened the door to Eva, she held up her hand to say _wait a moment_ and turning to Phil she said, "You chase up that lead Phil and I'll have another look at it" Phil left knowing he was dismissed then Eva came in followed by Neil Manson. Sam and Neil hadn't gotten along at first but he had now made his peace with not being given the DI position and in turn Sam listened to him and respected his opinion, she usually tried to appear to put more faith in it than others so he didn't feel as though his experience was being ignored. "Gov, I think we might have a serial rapist on our patch" Neil said, getting to the point, as direct as ever.

"Really?" Sam asked sighing, she hated to think what the public reaction was going to be to this, mass panic, angry letters and distraught victims. "What evidence have we got?"

"Two attacks similar areas, similar times, same MO" Eva replied, she handed the case files to Sam and she glance over them. "Ok, you two chase up what leads you think are necessary, I want to get a profiler in, Hugh Wallis, he was my teacher when I took a profiling course and he's one of the best"

"With respect Gov does our budget stretch that far?" Neil asked, he somehow couldn't get out of the knack of considering the budget at every turn.

"I'll only call him in for a few days, maybe he'll be able to give us something to go on, this guy seems to be forensically aware and we need all the help we can get to catch him as soon as possible." Sam replied diplomatically, keeping everyone happy. As soon as the two officers had left the room she looked up Hugh's number and dialled it.

"Hello Hugh, great to see you" Sam greeted her old friend.

"Samantha" he called grinning

"Where's that fresh faced student gone then?" Sam joked

"You look fantastic, as ever" Hugh complimented smiling as he hugged her.

"Thanks for coming"

"No problem, I only wish I was under different circumstances"

Sam smiled wryly, "Me too"

The two of them headed up to the CID office and Sam showed him into her office, there they began going over the files, one painstaking detail at a time. They had made a lot of progress and Sam felt she actually knew what she was doing now when there was a knock on her door. "Come in" she called and Phil opened it,

"Gov, we've got another attack" he said his voice grave, but he still clocked the other man in Sam's office and he felt a twinge of jealousy.

"What, in broad daylight?" Sam exclaimed horrified.

"Yeah, but this time he was scared off and we have a witness" Phil replied. Sam had already grabbed her coat and was on her way out the door with Phil and Hugh at her heels. Phil filled them in on the way to the scene and by the time they got there forensics had invaded. Sam and Hugh paired off together to examine what evidence had been collected and Phil was sent to interview the witness. The woman had apparently been jogging with headphones in so she didn't hear her attacker sneak up behind her, he had grabbed her from behind and he seemed to be holding a knife to her throat. The witness had been on the other side of the bridge at the time but he had yelled out and the attacker had glance at him and run off. The man was able to describe his height and build but he couldn't give a description of his face or his hair colour because he had been wearing a grey hooded sweat shirt. Forensics had found a foot print with a rather distinctive print and they now knew the attacker was left handed. Sam and Hugh returned to the nick and started trawling through records of known criminals to see who matched the MO. Neil and Andrea Dunbar helped. That night Sam got home late and Phil had already started tea, "Starting to think you were never coming home" he called as she hung her coat up in the hall.

"Sorry, I just really wanna catch this guy" Sam smiled unaware that Phil had an ulterior motive for commenting. She wrapped her arms around his waist and smiled as she absorbed the warmth of his back. "I missed you when you left, who else is going to fetch me coffee's with out me asking?" Sam murmured, she turned him around and kissed him deeply, "And I'm sorry I'm late, I'll make it up to you later yeah?" she winked and headed upstairs to get changed. That night after dinner Sam and Phil headed upstairs, Abi was staying with her granddad for a week so they had the place to themselves. As soon as the door was shut Sam's hands were on Phil's buttons and her lips were pressed against his. As soon as his shirt was off her hands were running all over his bare chest. He had removed her shirt too and he was working on removing her bra. Quickly all their clothes were shed and they lay down on the bed. Sam gasped at every touch and Phil moaned at every caress. Together they worked until each was completely satisfied. Then they cuddled up together and drifted off the sleep.

Sam opened a bleary eye, it was too early in the morning for anyone to be at the door. She flopped out of bed and put her dressing gown on, shivering in the night air, God, it wasn't even remotely light yet. She opened the door and blinked, on the doorstep stood Cindy, she and Phil hadn't heard from her in a year, they had no reason to.

"What is it?" Sam asked, not in the mood for settling old scores just yet.

"Is Phil in?" Cindy asked barging past Sam into the house.

"He's asleep, what can I do for you" Sam asked. Cindy didn't answer instead heading up the stairs, her feet stomping so loudly she sounded like –"some sort of heavy animal" Sam murmured.

"An elephant?" a voice asked behind her and Sam turned to see a little girl standing on the step.

"Hello, who are you?" Sam asked confused.  
"I'm Maddie" she answered, she was holding a teddy and she had a suitcase by her feet. "My mummy dropped me off at that lady's house and told me I was going to live with my daddy but she said daddy wasn't there and she brought me here"

Sam rubbed her eyes, this was too confusing she needed coffee, "Come in out of the cold" she told Maddie and she ushered her into the kitchen, decided to let Phil get an earful from Cindy, though he wouldn't thank her for it later. "You wanna a hot chocolate?" Sam murmured and the young girl nodded. Sam got out four cups and put coffee into thee of them and Milo into the fourth.

She could hear Cindy yelling from upstairs, "You promised me you didn't cheat on me, you _liar_! You had a daughter for Christ's sake, I can't believe you Phillip Hunter" there was silence for a minute then Cindy came storming back downstairs.

"Coffee?" Sam offered.

Cindy looked at her strangely then nodded, "Thanks" she accepted the steaming mug from Sam.

"I know you don't want to hear it, but if you hadn't usurped him in the first place, maybe he wouldn't have cheated on you, if he actually loved you" Sam murmured. Cindy glared daggers at her, "Ok, you've made your point, you two were meant to be together and I can see how bloody pointless it was trying to stop you" she sighed, "I know that was my problem, what ever you wanted I had to have, that's why we stopped being friends"

"Actually I think it had more to do with the fact that you pulled my hair and poured red paint over my dress but oh well" Sam murmured.

Cindy smirked, "You have to admit that was funny, the look on Miss Cromwell's face"

Sam grinned, "Ok, that was priceless" she admitted, "Morning sleepy head" Sam smiled at Phil who had just stumbled down the stairs.

He looked at her confused, "Why are you two being nice and having coffee, where's mine?" he moaned but before Sam could answer him he was almost knocked over by Maddie running and hugging his legs.

"Maddie, where's Christine?" he asked confused.

"She went to Spain, she says I'm going to live with you now" Maddie answered

Phil raised his eyebrows at Sam, she shrugged, "Fine with me, she's Abi's half sister after all and I know she'd slaughter me if I turned such an adorable child out on the street."

Cindy was astounded, that was what Phil had seen in Sam that he hadn't seen in her, kindness and compassion. She didn't care that she was raising someone else's daughter, she watched as Sam picked Maddie up and sat her on her lap as she drank her coffee and Maddie drank her hot chocolate. Sam was quite happy and Cindy new she could never have put up with raising another woman's child, that was the difference between them. She drained her cup and stood up, "Sorry I really must go" she murmured and hurried to the door. As she left she turned around, "I'm glad you two are happy together I really am" she told them then she fled.


	17. Chapter 17

ok, before we get going just some acknowlagements i'd like to make:

sam-gwen nixon: the update you requested ma'am. and your side order of fries, or would you prefer some...chicken dumplings??

samantha-nixon: of course she agreed, how could you not? maddie is so sweet and adorable and cute and...i'm babbling aren't i? and again, of course Phil is jealous of hugh, i mean it's sam come on, he is madly head over heels in love with her and he doesn't want anyone else cutting his grass so to speak. hehehe evil smirk (coz i know what's coming)

vikki: so so so glad you love it, though still can't work out why. must be the characters. and the twisting of the actual plot, that was teh whole purpose of the story to begin with and i'm glad it's working. maybe those producers should take a leaf out of my book...or several, as long as they give credit where credit is due. i had a great holiday thanks, for details refer to latest chapter of moving on, can't be bothered typing it out again. (and those dvds i mentioned...seasons 1-5 of CSI hehehehe. i'm going to have some great holidays. only three days of school left for this term. yay!)

S-nixon: you'll have to wait and see, though if you read through the rest of the story and kind of see the pattern you could work it out for yourself. and yes, the updat you requested is here. do you want fries with that too?

gemidogder: i would bless them but i am not religeious in any way shape or form and i try to refrain from doing things that have no meaning for me so i shant. feel free to bless them yourself if you like, i don't think it will do them any good though as i intend to torure them just a little more hehehe. glad you love it, hope you like this next installment...

anyway...on with the story as they say...or at least they say they do adn they ought to know oughtent they? and now i'm confusing myself so i'll shut up now (and yes i am aware i can't spell. shhhhh)

Chapter 17

The next day Sam and Hugh interviewed the victim in Saint Hughes, she remembered that he had said something to her, "time to strike the hood" that was their rapist's phrase. He said it every time and Sam was beginning to think they'd never catch him. She was trawling through paperwork at a depressingly slow speed, every time she thought she'd turned up a lead it was always a dead end. That night she returned home drained and could only manage half a bowl of soup before collapsing into bed, though having Phil to snuggle up to made it much nicer then it previously would have been. The next day was also depressingly devoid of anything remotely like advancement in the case. The trail was quickly going cold and if they didn't find something soon then they would have to wait for him to re-offend and hope he messed-up. The afternoon of the third day Sam was about to clock off, though it was an hour after her shift had finished anyway when she found something. "Ok, listen up. We have another rape, last year in Portsmouth, he probably was visiting so lets hope it wasn't to see family, Andrea, you chase up all the activities that were happening that weekend. Our guy might have a hobby or something that took him there. Everyone else, keep looking, we're getting warmer" Sam stalked back into her office after pinning up a picture of their latest victim. She got on her phone and asked to speak to the officer in charge of that investigation. After asking him if he thought the victim would agree to talk to her and he had replied no she asked him for any details on the case that he could remember. Something that might not have been in the file. A twenty minute conversation didn't turn up much but a few minutes after she had finished Neil walked into her office. "Gov, we got summat, another similar rape in Plymouth, eight months ago" he told her, Sam looked at the print out he handed her and nodded, "Stick her on the board, talk to the detective in charge of her case see if she might talk to us, and get any little details that might not have been in the file. Sam decided to take a few files and go home, she told everyone that they were doing a great job but reminded them not to forget to get some rest too. Phil forced another bowl of soup down her throat because that's all she would eat when she was anxious or distressed. The next morning Hugh came over while Phil was in the shower and Sam showed him what she had found that night. "I think it might be his first attack, nineteen eighty five, a prostitute in Glasgow, claimed she was raped"

"It's very possible, did you get any sleep last night?" Hugh asked concerned.

"Yes, of course" Sam answered tossing the remark aside.

"Good, because I'd hate to think of you disregarding those words of wisdom you mentioned to your colleagues" Sam rolled her eyes and laughed at Hugh's sarcasm as she walked out the door. It was Phil's day off work today and Sam was very grateful for his support over this case. She would definitely have to make it up to him when it was over.

That day Sam organised for Brenda Kellman to come over from Scotland for a few days so she could talk to her. The woman was quite happy to and Sam was keenly awaiting her arrival tomorrow. In the mean time Sam got Andrea Dunbar to chase up the news paper report that had appeared when Brenda first made her allegation. That night Hugh invited her out for a drink, Sam was keenly aware of the reason behind this and backed up hurriedly. "Hugh…we tried that last time and it didn't exactly end in fireworks did it?" she said gently. He sighed, "Of course not" he murmured and turned back to what he was doing. The next day Sam interviewed Brenda Kellman and she turned out to be very useful, she gave the first name of the guy who had booked the room in the hotel, there had been six navy officers in that room and one of them, as Brenda so eloquently put it "couldn't perform if you know what I mean" she wiggled her pinkie finger as she said that. That afternoon Andrea handed her the hotel register and Sam frowned, "I couldn't get that when I tried, they said they didn't have it"

Andrea shrugged, "You know how it is, they don't want to get involved. I know someone who knows someone–" and she stalked off, a moment later Neil followed her.

Sam looked up the name on CRIMINT and came up with something. Greg Shaw, she and Jim paid him a visit and she got him to promise to get a list of names to her. That night when she went home Sam collapsed into a chair, which conveniently already had Phil sitting in it. She kissed him lightly and began to massage his shoulders, "You have a good day?" she asked.

"Yeah, I managed to get Maddie in at Canley Street Primary, she really likes it there and she made a couple of friends today" Phil answered, absently mindedly tracing patterns on her back.

Sam smiled, "That's great, we made great progress on the case today" she saw him roll his eyes ever so slightly and took the hint. "But I wont bore you with that, what do you think of a bubble bath?" she grinned impishly as his face lit up. It was so great having him to come home to, Sam couldn't remember how she managed without it all these years.

The next day they started hunting down the names that Greg had provided them with, the navy wasn't nice and forthcoming so they had to try other sources, unfortunately they only had nicknames to go on, but Sam got them to focus on one, Little Al. It sounded derogatory, belittling, something that might make a man feel emasculated, something that might provoke him into these vicious attacks. That afternoon Kerry found a name, Alan Kennedy. Sam ordered her and Andrea to chase up his background, Phil to check his house out, direct the search and Neil to chase up his mother. When it was time to go home, they had already found out that he was a falconer, he had his own bird called _Shadow_ and that would have taken him to Portsmouth and Plymouth one the same dates as the rapes.

Sam congratulated everyone one a good days work and sent them home so they could start afresh in the morning. She headed home and she made dinner for the first time in ages, Phil was still out and Sam wondered what was taking his so long. He opened the door half an hour later and Sam kissed him hello. She didn't ask where he'd been, if he wanted to tell her he would, she wasn't bothered. Hugh called just after tea and Sam informed him of their progress, he was understandably relieved and Sam went to bed pleased that they were finally getting somewhere. Sam's sleep was rudely disturbed by the ringing of the phone. "Gov, we have another victim" Neil told her blankly, sometimes Sam was convinced he couldn't feel normal emotions.

"Where?"

"Marsh Street, she's older than the others but same MO" Neil replied.

"I'll see you at Saint Hughes" Sam replied. Getting out of bed she sighed, kissing Phil who was sleeping goodbye she got dressed and left, calling Hugh on her mobile to tell him what had happened.

dun dun dun...anyone want to hazard a gues as to who the latest victim is? i'll give you a clue, you have already met her in this story. hehehehehe. prize to anyone who gets it right.


	18. Chapter 18

wow, you guys are so lucky, two chaps in less than an hour. well, guess who you have to thank for that?? GEM! she guessed right and her prize is a new chapter, dedicated all to her. (hey, you requested another chapter, and i said i would forful your request, so i did, as you can see) :P hope you enjoy luv you all lots. Chez.

Chapter 18

Sam was directed to the latest victim's bed but when she saw her she blanched…it was her mother.

Sam didn't want to see her but she could see no other option, just treat her like any other victim and hope she doesn't recognise you Sam told herself walking over she flashed her badge, not long enough for her to see the name. "Hello, I'm from Sunhill, I need you to tell me what happened" she said softly, trying to be compassionate and calm, though there was a hard edge to her voice that shouldn't have been there.

"Well, I was walking along Marsh Street…I'm staying at a B and B down there, I heard someone…following me and…I was about to turn around to tell them to…leave me alone when I felt an arm, grab me from behind. He…he pushed me against the wall and started…pulling at my clothes…he tore…my shirt…I screamed for help but he put his…his hand over my mouth" Deborah paused, Sam could hear that she was choked up, she didn't deserve this, anymore than any of the other victims.

"Ok, that's enough for the time being Ms…?" Sam trailed off realising how little she knew about her mother's life. Had she remarried after dad, had she reverted back to her maiden name, did she still gat referred to as her married name?

"Johns" she answered, Sam made a mental note of it, her mother still used her maiden name, that must mean she hadn't remarried.

"Ms Johns. Is there anyone I can call for you, a friend or—relative?"

"Ummm no, not really. I'm in London trying to find my daughter actually, her name's Samantha Nixon, I heard she was living around here some where." She smiled wryly, "It's taken me ages to find her actually, she ran off when she was seventeen and I haven't seen her since. She must have really hated me if she didn't want to be found that badly, I've been looking for her for seventeen years"

Sam swallowed hard, she had never imagined being put in this position, "Did you ever fill out a missing persons report?" she asked shortly.

"No, I don't think she would take kindly to being pestered by the police, she probably has a great job and a husband and kids by now anyway, but if you could maybe look up her number for me…that would be a great help. I could call her and see if she might agree to see me. Deborah sounded so small and helpless at that moment, she was enveloped in the large white bed, not a very tall woman to begin with she looked like a lost child at that moment and Sam couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt. Sam sighed and put her note book away, she knew what she had to do, "That would be a waste of time, she already knows your here…mum" the word sounded strange on Sam's lips, all her life she had only ever called her 'mother', Deborah had hated shortenings of things and had always insisted on calling her Samantha and calling her sister Caroline.

The look on her face was that of astonishment, she searched Sam's face for a moment for signs that it was her baby girl then she enveloped her in a hug. Sam shifted gently until she was sitting on the bed next to her mother, with her arm over her shoulder and Deborah's arms encircling her waist. Sam calmed her down and listened to her rant on about how sorry she was and how she shouldn't have tried so hard to control her and how she shouldn't have misjudged Phil so terribly. Eventually she calmed down enough for Sam to get a word in edgeways, "Ok, ok, I understand…I forgive you" she said that mostly to shut her mother up, she knew as soon as it was out of her mouth that she didn't mean it, what ever her mother was like now she had very nearly wrecked Sam's life _on purpose_, she knew she could never forgive her. Sam took on the role of the mother temporarily, shushing Deborah until she fell asleep, Neil walked in just as Sam was sure she was asleep, he looked at her confused and she shrugged gently she extracted herself out from under her mother then she quietly left the room.

"Erm –Gov…" Neil began

"Don't start, I know I'm far too emotionally involved, but if you breathe a word to anyone…" Sam let the threat hang in the air for a moment before adding, "I'll explain when we've wrapped this case up" Neil nodded, he respected her and knew she wouldn't do anything to jeopardise this case, she wanted the result just as much as he did.

By this time it was eight o'clock so Sam headed into the nick, her shift was starting soon anyway. When she got there Phil was already at his desk, he followed her into her office after a minute and closed the door. "Where did you get to?" he murmured folding her into a hug.

"I left a note on the door, there was another victim last night" Sam murmured, she was still a bit shaken up but she tried not to let it show. Phil frowned, he could tell something was wrong, "What is it?" he asked, pulling away slightly so he could look at her, but still keeping his hands on her shoulders for support.

Sam sighed, she knew it was pointless trying to keep it from Phil as he would find out anyhow, "It was my mother Phil" she said quietly.

"What?" Phil asked in a strained whisper, "You've got to be kidding,"

Sam shook her head reluctantly, "No, sorry" she murmured. She looked down for a moment, "You know how much I love you don't you?" Sam asked in a small voice.

"Of course I do" Phil replied, smoothing her hair down with his hands.

"Good, can you just…hold me" Sam murmured, he folded her into his arms and Sam felt so warm and safe there, for just a moment. Leaning up she pressed her lips against his melting into the kiss, no matter that it was short.

"I love you" Phil murmured and he gave her a gentle peck on the forehead before he left the office.

hope you enjoyed, as previously stated just this is in past tense...don't kill me, i'm sorry my brain melted. too much school work. gaar. as always, please please please reveiw.


	19. Chapter 19

sorry for teh long wait guys, my computer was ebing evil and not letting me update. another chapter for you all.

Chapter 19

Jack came into CID to see what progress had been made on the rape case, Sam updated him and then left him to talk to the others involved in the investigation. Jack was impressed, they had done a lot in the last few days and they were almost there, he had seem Sam and Phil looking at each other across the office and minute ago but no one else seemed to think they might be an item, he was pleased that George had been right. Not even Gina had an inkling that there might be more than met the eye. Jack was well aware of their living arrangements for the past year and he was glad that it wasn't affecting their work at all, if anything it put a good spin on it.

"Sam, Sam, we got him" Phil crowed, "Cameron's picked him up on top of a disused water tower, he was flying that stupid bird of his"

Sam grinned, "Is he brining him in?" she asked

"Yes, But we still have to prove that it was him" Phil admitted, slightly less jubilant than he had been a minute ago. "Gov, we found his mum, she's in Sunhill cemetery, she died just over a year ago" Neil said, interrupting Phil. Sam nodded, "That might have been what set of these attacks, what was her maiden name?"

"Loader, that's why it took me so long to find it, she was buried under that, it seems he was never married to someone called Kennedy"

"Ok, see if you can find the school he attended, he might be registered under Loader which is why we didn't find him last time" Sam ordered then she reconsidered, "Actually, I want you to interview him, Phil you can help him, I'll do that" Jack and Neil frowned at her, both knew she had done a course in psychology and could probably get a confession out of him faster then anyone else, "Sam, I think you should do the interview" Jack told her but she shook her head emphatically. "I can't do that, it'll jeopardise the case….the last victim was—she's my mother" Sam confessed. Jack took a moment to absorb this then he shrugged, "We'll do a video recorded interview, and we'll have another officer present at all times, we'll turn the video on before you enter the room and turn it off after you leave, they can't refute that"

Sam nodded pleased that she would actually get to do the interview, she wanted the chance to exercise her profiling skills.

Sam sighed relieved, she was out for a quick drink with the rest of the officers that had worked on the case, she had managed to a get a confession out of him just before Hugh had found the most crucial piece of evidence, the knife and clothes he had used in the attacks. Sam left the community party early and went to visit her mother in hospital, Phil came with her for moral support.

"Hello" Sam said quietly as she pushed the door open, "We caught the guy who did this to you"

"That's good news, who's this?" Deborah said smiling appreciatively at Phil who was standing protectively behind Sam.

"What, don't you recognise me?" Phil asked mildly, "I'm the guy whose life you tried to ruin"

"Mum, dad told me what you did, I want an explanation, why you thought it was necessary to make someone pose as Phil"

Deborah looked down at the ground, "I'm sorry, I just wanted you to come home" she murmured softly.

"That doesn't explain why you wouldn't let me live my own life. Why, after I left, you tried to force Caroline to live your life" Sam said, her voice cracking. Deborah was speechless at this accusation and she had no response. Sam nodded, "Well then I'm sorry but I don't want you in my life, I don't want you making my daughters' lives a misery like you did mine" Sam said conviction in her voice

"You have kids? How many? What are their names? How old are they?" Deborah asked, trying to ignore what her daughter had just said.

"Yes. I have two daughters. Abigale Grace Michelle Lynnette –Hunter, and Madison Alexandra Nicole Hunter" Sam answered "They are sixteen and four" she turned to leave, Phil's hand still supportively on her shoulder when Deborah spoke again, "Ok, I understand what you said, but…can I just meet them, then I promise I'll leave you alone" Deborah implored, Sam considered it for a moment, surely she could at least meet them, as long as she understood that it would only be once no matter what happened. She looked to Phil and silently as him what he thought. Phil looked at her and reluctantly told her he didn't mind if that's what she wanted, _but one of us should be there and make sure she doesn't start spouting a whole lot of lies, you know she's capable of it, she might think that if she convinces Abi or Maddie she's a good person they will insist that she can see her more often._ He added, Sam nodded imperceptively, _thanks_. She said gratefully and she turned back to her mother.

"Ok, but only once and I want to be there when you do" Sam agreed sighing heavily.

Deborah smiled in gratitude, "You obviously have a strong relationship if you can agree on something with out speaking" she commented.

"Yeah, no thanks to you" Sam muttered and stalked out the room.

"So, Abi's last name is Hunter then?" Phil asked casually as they left the hospital

"I wasn't going to let her have that victory" Sam muttered

"She probably thinks we're married you know" Phil murmured.

"Good" Sam retorted.

Phil's hand clenched around the small box that had been burning a hole in his pocket for the last two days, he knew Sam would not welcome a proposal while the case was going on but he resolved to ask her once it was over, it was over now and he had no excuse. Should he ask her now or should he plan some sort of romantic dinner and ask her then? He decided organising something romantic was a better idea and as tomorrow was Sunday and they had the day off that was fine. He felt Sam hand squeeze his as she looked into his eyes, "What are you thinking about?" she asked half playfully half inquisitively.

He smiled, "I'm thinking about how lucky I am to have found you again" he murmured and he lent over and kissed her lightly on her cheek.

Sam grinned playfully, "You just want to get out of doing the dishes tonight" she accused laughing.

Phil smirked, "I forgot you can't accept compliments" he teased.

Sam gasped as though she was offended, "Fine, give me a compliment then, and I will accept it" she challenged.

"Ok, you are the most beautiful, intelligent, kind, caring, sweetest person in the whole world and I'm so glad you're all mine" Phil murmured "and you have beautiful eyes" he added.

Sam smirked and paused, "Thankyou, but that was two" she said eventually.

"See, you choked on it" Phil accused and he wrapped his arm around her waist pulling her close, he started tickling her gently and she squeaked. "Ah, no, please don't" Sam protested.

"Give me a kiss then," Phil grinned "And a compliment" he added as an afterthought. Sam smiled and leant in to kiss him, probing his mouth gently with her tongue. She felt warmth spread from their locked lips , it sent tingles of delight through her whole body and she could believe he still made her feel this way, her knees turned to jelly, her heart started racing and she felt like a giddy teenager. As they parted she murmured, "You're the best kisser I've ever had the pleasure of kissing"

Phil grinned, "Ok, you can give compliments, we'll have to work on the receiving. Come on, let's go home"


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: I apologise profusely in advance, I know this chapter is _**WAAAYYYY**_ too fluffy. I am so very very very sorry. And thanks to all who have reviewed. Much appreciated. Sorry I haven't been sending review replies but it stuffing up and not sending them to my email and I am just too goddamn lazy to go check them.

Chapter 20

Sam woke the next morning to soft light pouring in through her window, she flung her arm out to where Phil should be but he wasn't there. Sam's eyes snapped open and she sat up, she was properly awake now, the door creaked and she turned to see who was there. It was Phil carrying a tray, "You're awake then" he commented.

"Something smells good, breakfast in bed, you _do_ spoil me" she smiled as he come to lie beside her and share their breakfast.

"You deserve it" he murmured, "Now, when you've finished that get dressed I have a surprise for you"

Sam noted that he had laid out some clothes for her, a pleated skirt she never wore and a white shirt. "What are you up to?" she asked warily.

"You'll have to wait and find out" he replied mysteriously.

The two of them headed out the door and Phil got into the car, they drove for about half an hour then Phil parked the car and got out, "Come on" he smirked and he held out his hand. Sam took it wondering what he was doing, he was wearing odd clothes too, grey pants and a white shirt, and ugly red and navy blue tie that Sam thought she recognised. They walked together down the street and Sam found herself at the rivers edge, just nearby there was a paddle boating place, probably the only one left. Phil went over and paid for two single boats, he sat Sam in a red one where as his was blue and he pushed her off. Sam was giggling helplessly, it was exactly the same as their first date, right down to the ridiculous clothes they were wearing, she remembered that the tie Phil was wearing was probably his old school tie, her skirt was her old school skirt, well, one just like it anyway. They got out into the middle of the channel and Sam splashed Phil, he splashed her back and by the time they reached the other side they were drenched. There was an ice-cream vendor on the side and Phil shouted out to him, "Can I have two strawberry's please?" the vendor grinned at him and walked over with the two cones, he handed one to Sam and one to Phil, "On the house yeah?" he said jovially. Sam and Phil ate their ice-creams hurriedly as it was a hot day and they were rapidly melting as they pedalled slowly back to the boat house Sam could feel her imagination running away with her, Why had Phil planned all this, was there a hidden reason behind it? She would just have to wait and see. Sam finished her ice-cream and she crumple up the napkin that had been wrapped around the cone. Phil pulled up beside her and stopped her boat. They were in the middle of the channel now and Sam could feel her heart start racing. "Can I just ask one question?" he asked holding her hands in his, he was quoting the same line he had used on the first day he met. "Samantha Abigale Nadia Grace Nixon, will you marry me?" he asked, he was staring into her eyes as he said that and Sam was so absorbed that she didn't notice him getting a small box out of his pocket. She didn't notice until he broke eyes contact and looked down as he opened it. Sam gasped as she saw the ring, it was gold inset with a large oval shaped diamond and a small circular ruby either side of it. Sam was speechless for a moment, she couldn't believe that he had just asked her to _marry_ him, her eyes were glistening with tears as she nodded, "Yes, I will, I will marry you" she answered as he slipped the ring onto her finger. She leaned forward to seal it with a kiss and she saw him lean forward too. The next minute she felt herself tipping forward and the cold bite of the water as she went under. She came up gasping for air as she was laughing so hard, Phil came up a split second later laughing just as hard as she was. When they had calmed down they sealed their pact with a kiss then they parted. Their hands were still gripping the others and they watched their boats drift away for a moment before Phil said, "We'd better get those" Sam nodded in agreement and started swimming after the red one while Phil swam after the blue one.

Up on a bridge over looking the river Steve Hunter was on his first shift as a police officer, he and Yvonne Hemmingway watched the two lovers swim after their boats. "I'm confused" Yvonne moaned

"I know what you mean, I mean they look a bit old to be in school but they look like they're wearing school uniform so they must be. Who honestly ever heard of anyone choosing to wear school uniform? But then again it looked like he was proposing, with the ring and all."

"Yeah it did, didn't it? Maybe they just have a very bad taste in clothes" she chuckled.

Sam and Phil came home dripping wet, Abi took on look at them and raised her eyebrow, "What on earth were you two doing?" she asked sounding every bit the slightly amused slightly irritated parent with the two of them as the children.

"Reliving our first date" Phil answered.

"Ok, that explains your…attire, what exactly did you do for your first date?"

"We went out on the paddle boats" Sam answered laughing at the look of disgust on her daughters face, their uniform had been pretty crappy.

"Ohh, aren't you the closet romantic" Abi muttered sarcastically.

"It was, really" Sam told her, "And even more so the second time round"

"So, when do I get to see the ring?" Abi demanded, this was so weird, her parents were getting married and she was almost seventeen, talk about backwards.

"Are we that transparent?" Phil complained wrapping his daughter into a hug that made her squeal.

"Urgh, yes, and get _off_ me you're all _wet!_" Maddie came in at that moment and she saw that they were wet, Phil's attention turned to her and she ran out of the room terrified of being cuddled by a cold wet dad. Sam showed Abi the ring then she and Phil headed upstairs to the shower. They were cold and wet and a hot shower was the best way to get warm. When they headed downstairs there was a letter on the table addressed to Phil. "What does it say?" Sam asked after he had torn it open.

"Christine wrote to say sorry for dropping Maddie on me like that, she hopes I'm looking after her and we're getting along well and that it didn't mess my life up too much. She also nicely says that she's never coming back, that she can't. Apparently she's got cancer and she doesn't want to put Maddie through seeing her mum die slowly and painfully. She says I should probably tell Maddie to call…you mum, it will make it easier on her or something."

"It's ok, I know it probably says Cindy" Sam sighed, she loved Maddie dearly and she was a mother to her in every sense of the word except the biological one.

"Daddy, is that from Mum?" Maddie asked in a small voice.

"Yes sweetie"

"It says she's not coming back doesn't it? –and don't lie…she talked to me before she left, she told me what was happening, she told me to call Cindy mummy if she didn't mind…I guess that would go to you if daddy's not married to Cindy anymore" Maddie turned to Sam with the last bit, Sam felt her heart go out to the little girl, she was so strong and Sam knew that she could never have been that strong as a child. Maddie continued, "I know mummy's dying and I want to do what she asked, so if you don't mind…can I call you mummy please" Maddie looked so small, she was just asking for love and to be allowed to remember her mum in her own way. Sam glanced at Phil to see what he thought, he looked at her and she could see agreement in his eyes, _why not, Christine doesn't have any objections and it's not like she's coming back so she can't confuse Maddie, I think it would be for the best, as long as you agree_ he told her silently.

"Of course sweetie" Sam answered scooping the little girl up in her arms.

"Thanks –mum" Maddie murmured returning the hug.


	21. Chapter 21

Fore those who wanted me to bring Steve in, you saw a little of him in the last chapter, and here he is, a bit more. Enjoy.

Chapter 21

The next day at work Sam and Phil were both in very good moods, this was the first time that anyone had noticed anything, but they didn't take too much notice of it, they had too much to worry about in their own lives. That morning at refs Phil was getting a coffee when he noticed a new face that he recognised. "Steve" he exclaimed "You didn't tell me you enrolled at Hendon, oh God, it's good to see you" Phil said clapping him on the back and grinning at Steve's embarrassed smile.

"Yeah, yeah, nice to see you too bro" Steve muttered aware of his colleagues eyes on him.

"What's this Steve, you didn't tell me you new Phil Hunter" Tony teased

"He's my little brother" Phil said proudly. He finished his coffee then returned to the CID office.

Sam wandered down to the canteen for something to eat, she hadn't had time for breakfast that morning because she'd had to leave early to get Maddie off to school. She was wandering down the corridor after waving hello to Phil who was in a rush, when she saw a new PC, he looked strangely familiar. He saw her a moment later and stared at her, "Sam?" he asked amazed, Sam recognised him and grinned, he was Steve Hunter, Phil's little brother.

"Steve, it's great to see you, looks like you've got you're act cleaned up then" she smiled as she hugged him back, it had been ages since she had seen him but he hadn't changed at all.

"Yeah, Phil told you about that then"

"Well he had to explain why he was getting himself shot at yeah" Sam nodded. Steve was looking great, and he looked happy to see a friendly face. "Have you seen him yet?"

"Phil? Yeah, he already said hi, you never did say what you were doing here"

"I'm the DI here" Sam grinned when Steve smiled slowly

"I'll bet Phil didn't like that at first….are you two-?"

"No, he didn't…are we back together do you mean?" Sam asked for clarification.

"Yeah –it's just I know he's still mad about you and…"

Sam chuckled, "Yeah, he made that pretty clear when he proposed yesterday"

"He _what_? What did you say?" Steve exploded astonished. Sam giggled, he was the same kid she had spent teaching how to rollerblade all those years ago.

"Yes of course, one question though, do you still skate?"

"That's great, yeah, I still have those skates you and Phil bought be jointly for my birthday" Steve smiled.

Sam looked guilty for a moment, "He gave those to you then?" she muttered, she had left before Steve's birthday.

"Yeah" Steve murmured.

"Look, I don't have time to talk now, and Gina Gold will probably chew my ears off if I keep you but why don't you come over for dinner tonight. I'll find you later and give you the address, either that or…what time does your shift finish?"

"Five"

"Mine too, if you met me in the car park then I can give you a lift.

"Sure, wanna synchronise watches?" Steve joked.

Sam shook her head, "Get on with you, before Gina chews your ears off"

"Good advice Steve, I'd follow it" Gina said springing from nowhere. Steve scampered off and Gina turned to Sam, "How long have you been there?" Sam asked annoyed at being caught out she had thought she and Phil were quite good not to have raised suspicion yet.

"Not long, I heard people gossiping as they passed my office that you and Steve were quite friendly, friendly enough to be hugging. How do you know him anyway?" Gina asked curiously.

"Me and Steve go way back" Sam answered evasively. "I knew him when he was still in high school, before he did his GCSE's."

"That's a long time, does that mean you knew Phil too, they're brothers you know" Sam and Gina had been walking along the corridor as they spoke and they entered Gina's office and Sam shut the door before answering.

"Yeah, I knew him" she said grinning, she was glad Gina had found out first, she had been a good friend of Sam's since she had started here a year ago. "I knew him inside out"

Gina gasped, "I knew it, I knew it" she crowed, "I knew there was history between you two, so what's I like being you're ex's boss?" she asked smirking, she knew something others didn't.

"Who said he was my ex?" Sam asked mildly.

Gina looked at her to see if she was kidding, she wasn't, "You didn't" she laughed, this was better than a soap opera. "How serious is it?" she asked sitting down and pouring two glasses of scotch and handing one to Sam.

"Ummm…." Sam was unsure of how to answer this question, "Well let's put it this way, I have a ring on my finger and we have two kids" she decided it would be easier not having to explain that Maddie technically wasn't hers and Phil had agreed with her, they had talked about it the night before. "He proposed yesterday actually" Sam grinned, waving her fingers at Gina's stunned face.

"Well that certainly explains your mood today. Congratulations. I noticed Phil's changed recently. More reliable. You obviously have a good effect on him" Gina said kindly, beaming.

"Thanks, yeah he has changed. He's like he used to be when I first fell for him." Sam mused, remembering that day.

"Don't go getting all soppy on me now" Gina warned. "Does anyone else know?"

"Ummm…Jack does he sort of walked in—" Sam admitted guiltily before Gina interrupted her.

"Ok, you can stop there. That's plenty enough information for me"

"Nice if you wouldn't mention this to anyone" Sam murmured before she left, strolling back to her office smirking, the look on Gina's face when she had told her Phil had proposed was indescribable.

Sam and Steve arrived home and Sam started putting dinner on, Phil's shift finished at six so he wouldn't be home for a while yet. Sam introduced him to Maddie, Abi wasn't home yet but she showed him a photo of her, Phil arrived home and he and Steve started catching up on what they had missed. Sam hadn't served dinner because Abi wasn't home yet. By seven thirty Sam was worried and she tried calling Abi's mobile. It rang and rang and rang and eventually the line went dead. Sam tried again and again and again but no luck. Eventually they sat down to dinner and Sam smiled falsely, "She's probably at a friends or something and she left her phone in her bag upstairs or something. After dinner Sam tried again, she said goodbye to Steve as he left then she tried, again. Phil came back in the house looking grave, "I found this in the gutter" he murmured and he held out Abi's phone, Sam looked at the screen and tears came to her eyes, thirty seven missed calls. "She probably just dropped it" Phil suggested his voice hollow.

"I know her Phil, she would have called, something terrible has happened to her" Sam sobbed burying her head in Phil's neck as he held he close. "Look, at least let's ring around and see if any of her friends know anything" Phil said calmly but Sam could hear the fear in his voice. They spent the next half hour ringing all of Abi's friends but none of them knew where she was or why she hadn't called, eventually they had to concede that something was terribly wrong.

"Look, I'll stay here and look after Maddie, you go down to the station, fill out a missing persons report, then we might find something to go on" Phil told her kissing her lightly on the lips. Sam nodded trying unsuccessfully to stop the tears rolling own her cheek. Phil wiped them away then handed her the car keys and pushed her out the door. Sam drove down to the station and let herself in, wandering down the hallway she found that the light in Gina's office was still on. She knocked on the door and pushed it open.

"Sam, what are you doing back here? –what's wrong?" Gina asked seeing that she was upset and pushing her down into a chair, "It's Abi, she's missing" Sam choked, wiping tears from her eyes furiously. "She didn't come home tonight and I know something terrible has happened to her, we found her mobile in the gutter outside our house, I know she would have called if she was going to stay at a friend's house, and we rang all her friends' houses but they haven't seen her since school finished today."

"Ok, ok, shhhh" Gina shushed her, "Fill out this form and we'll start looking immediately, I promise we'll find her, no matter what it takes" Gina soothed her. Sam took the form she handed her and filled it out as best she could, she noted that Gina hadn't said, _we'll get her back safe and sound_.

By the time Phil arrived at work the next morning the entire station knew DI Nixon's daughter was missing, they had located the CCTV outside Abi's school and they were tracing her movements as best as they could. "Why is she heading the wrong way? That's not the way to the bus stop" Sam commented her voice raw and hoarse with emotion. The tracked her movements as far as Perbeck Street but then they lost her somewhere between a café and a music store. Gina sent Tony Stamp and Smithy down to check it out and they found a laneway in between where she could have been grabbed. They called in forensics and Sam and Phil waited by the sidelines as they watched the investigators comb the area for clues. There were standing a couple of feet away from each other but the air between them was electric. Each knew what the other was thinking and one look could calm the other immensely. No one seemed to notice this except Gina and Jack who was now waiting around, he walked over to them and murmured, "How are you two holding up?"

"As good as can be expected" Phil murmured, Sam nodded in agreement, not trusting her throat to speak.

"If you need time off—"

"No. Thanks, but we need to keep busy" Sam replied, her voice cracked and she knew she had been right not to trust it, even Phil's voice sounded gravellier than usual, his jaw was constantly clenched and if you looked you could see the hurt and worry in his eyes, just under the surface. Only problem was no one was looking, people kept coming up to him that day and commenting on how bad Sam must feel. He murmured vague agreement and left them to it, his head was filled with a constant buzzing, it was warning him of danger, danger to his daughter and he couldn't get rid of it and he couldn't do anything about it.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Oooh drama. You wanna know what happens I'm gonna need some sort of payment. Reviews would be nice. The more reviews I get the faster I update.


	22. Chapter 22

new chap, hope you enjoy, sorry its kinda short, i'll get around to posting another one soon, i swear. the more reveiws i get the sooner that will be. :) dont you love blackmail?

Chapter 22

That afternoon Steve came and knocked on Sam's door, "Gov, Inspector Gold asked me to get you to take a look at these" he handed Sam a plastic bag with clothes in it.

"Where were they found" Sam asked sharply, she recognised them, it was Abi's school uniform.

"They were reported by the river" Steve answered, he heard a hitch in Sam's breathing and he knew that what he had just said must have upset her.

"Thankyou Steve, can you –take those with you and…send Phil in when you see him" Sam told him, he nodded and collected the clothes and left. Sam sat down heavily on her chair, and she felt the tears well up in her eyes. There was a knock on the door and she blinked them back as she called out, "Come in"

"You wanted to see me Gov" Phil murmured and he walked in a shut the door. He and Sam sat down together on the small two-seater that was in her office, Sam cuddled up to Phil's warm body and she let the tears fall, "Did Steve tell you what he found?" she asked in a small voice.

"No, but I recognised them" Phil murmured, he had a pit of ice in the bottom of his stomach and the buzzing in his head was louder now, he knew Sam felt the same, probably worse because she had carried Abi inside her, she had raised her, they had shared so much together. Neither of them said anything for a long time, they didn't need to, both knew how the other was feeling and both knew that words, no matter how heart felt couldn't make it better. Over the rest of that week more and more information was gathered on Abi's movements during the day she had left, apparently she had asked on of her teachers what they thought was a good wedding present, there were a few raised eyebrows when Neil reported this back to the nick but Sam ignored them. She also ignored the gossip as best she could, though some of it was utterly ridiculous and she was sure that if she wasn't so stressed out and worried that she would have found it extremely funny. The most ridiculous was that she was marrying Jack and as soon as that got out Sam found that Debbie was giving her a very cold shoulder, not that she cared, all she wanted was to find Abi. On Friday Neil came into her office with a very grave look on his face, "What is it? –its Abi isn't it?" she asked frantically.

He nodded, "A –body's been found, by the river. It matches her description" he answered. Sam gasped, almost choking, she grabbed her coat and flew out the door, Phil saw her and followed, jumping into her car he asked "What it is?" as they sped out the gate.

Sam walked slowly down the ramp, not trusting her knees to go any faster, she could feel Phil right behind her, just as nervous, as she knelt down to the body she felt a cold shiver settle itself over her, she gently brushed the hair back and she felt a great wave of relief sweep over her. Swallowing hard she got up and stumbled back, Phil caught her and one look into her eyes and he knew that they had caught a lucky break this time. He breathed a sigh of relief and steadied her on her feet before letting go of her shoulders. He silently told her to tell everyone around them that it wasn't her and she nodded imperceptibly. "It's not her," she mumbled loud enough for Gina to hear her, Gina nodded, relieved that Sam didn't have to suffer that pain, at least not yet. Sam and Phil walked up the ramp again and they sat down silently, Sam felt a presence in front of her and she looked up, "Hugh? What are you doing here?" she asked confused.

"I just heard about Abi, how you holding up?" he asked softly, handing her a cup of tea.

"Ok, how did you find out?" Sam asked confused. She felt Phil leave to give the two of them a bit of privacy and she glanced at him to show her gratitude.

"You're not the only one with informants you know, look, why didn't you call me, I could help you find her, no charge of course" he said softly

"Thanks Hugh, that means a lot" Sam murmured allowing him to put his arm around her shoulders, she was lucky to have a friend like him.

That afternoon Sam knocked on the door to Jack's office, come in" he called. Sam entered and shut the door, "Gov, I wanted to ask a favour" she started, "While Abi's missing, do you think you could get Neil to look after CID?" she asked tentatively.

"Sure, you taking some leave then, how long do you want?" Jack smiled, Sam shook her head.

"No, I don't want any leave, I need to keep my mind occupied, I just…I think it would be easier to do more plodding and less paper work. I know Neil won't have any objections"

Jack considered it, her request was reasonable, "So you want to be a DS for a while, if you're that desperate I can get you to be a PC again for a while" he joked.

Sam wrinkled her nose, "No thanks, DS is fine"

"Sure thing, can you send Neil in here, I want to talk to him about it myself."

"Ok" Sam smiled as she left she turned around and asked, "Have they found out who the dead girl is yet?" She had been feeling so guilty for being relieved that it wasn't Abi, someone somewhere had lost their daughter and all she could do was thank her lucky stars it wasn't her.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Sam was in her office packing her things into a box, assuming that Neil would want the office if he was the DI for the time being, when there was a knock on the door. "Come in" she called.

"Sam –what are you doing?" Neil asked frowning.

"I'm packing up my stuff so you can use the office" Sam replied.

"Erm –no, don't do that. I can't begin to imagine how you must be feeling but I want you to have this office, if you're feeling anything like what I could imagine you'll want a place where you can just be yourself, have a cry if you need to –I don't need it honestly. I just wanted to thank you for giving me this opportunity, the super said he didn't want me being the DI because I hadn't had enough experience and the more I can get the better, thanks"

"Err –you're welcome" Sam said stunned, she stared after him as he left. He was a lot more compassionate that she had given him credit for.

Three days passed without word of Abi at all and Sam and Phil were getting frantic, people had noticed that Phil was in a bad mood but they had no idea why, when Debbie started moaning about him biting her head off for the third time that day Sam took her aside and told her to take it easy, "Phil's got –stuff going on at the moment that's got him stressed, just give him a break yeah" she murmured.

"What sort of stuff?" Debbie asked.

"I'll get back to you on that" Sam replied, she had been thinking that it would be easier if everyone knew that she and Phil were together, she would have to talk to him tonight, but then again Abi was still missing how could she be thinking about that sort of thing. We'll talk about it when we find her, she decided and she went back to her desk. Over the next day Sam got a few more clues as to where Abi might be, they found a video of her trashing a store, on the tape there was numbers and letters on her back. They lead her to Sunhill cemetery and there was a clue there _beloved knows naught_. It had to be some sort of sick joke. Sam started going through all her past cases trying to find someone likely of doing this. Hugh suggested Peter Baxter, someone she had suspected early on in the rape case. Sam and Neil searched his flat and found a piece of cardboard taped to the wall. It had some numbers and letters on it but Sam couldn't for the life of her figure out what they were and neither could Hugh. During this time Sam had been spending a lot of time with Hugh, he helped her forget what was going on, when ever she looked at Phil she saw bits of Abi in him and it made her feel worse. She knew Phil felt the same so neither minded when they stopped spending much time in each others company, they were sleeping on opposite sides of the bed and driving to work in separate cars, eating at separate times of the day and spending as much time apart as possible. That morning Sam got another clue, it was a single red rose with the word _worrying _attached. She told Phil about it and they wondered what it could mean. Sam called up Hugh and they went off into a little corner to talk. Phil felt a twinge of jealousy, his fiancé, the mother of his girls was spending a lot of time with him. Deep down he knew that she would never cheat on him but it felt better then wondering about Abi all the time. The buzzing in his head had died down now and somehow that was even scarier, he had been so used to it that it felt even more ominous, as though Abi wasn't alive anymore and that scared him to death.

At about lunch time Sam received another rose, this one was half dead, it had the word _waiting_ attached. Sam was starting to get nervous, she needed Abi back by her side, she was part of her and she didn't think she could live without her. She knew she wouldn't be able to look Phil in the face again if they didn't get her back alive. Suddenly a brainwave came to her, she turned to her computer and opened another window, she typed www—dot—beloved—knows—naught—dot—co—dot—uk (soz, is only way it would let me put it in) into her toll bar. It loaded a website and as Sam saw what was on it she gasped. "Phil, Phil" she yelled yanking the door open, she saw Hugh in one corner but her attention was fixed on Phil, he was talking to Debbie on the other side of the room and as soon as he heard her he looked up, "She's alive" Sam said, her voice quivering slightly

"What, how do you know? Did she call you what did she say?" Phil demanded

Hugh came over too and asked, "What have you found?" something flipped inside Sam's head at that moment but she pushed it to the back of her brain for a minute. Turning and walking back into her office she moved the computer monitor so they could both see. Phil gasped as he saw his daughter tied to a chair, her eyes were opened and scared, behind her on the plain metal wall was written _beloved knows naught_ three times in something red that had run down the walls. He felt tears of relief pricking in his eyes and he hurriedly blinked them away. "That's great, do you know where it is?" Phil asked.

"I have an idea, you know those numbers we found at Baxter's, well if you put those with three zeros, that's why it's written three times, then you get the coordinates for the Sunhill shipping yard, that looks a lot like the inside of a shipping container don't you think?"

"That's brilliant, let's get down there" Phil exclaimed grinning at Sam and telling her silently, _I love you_. She replied _I love you too_, and nodded, lets tell Jack first then we can get SO19 down there and search it properly, it might take all week otherwise.

"It's going to take all week anyway" Phil muttered but he followed her down to Jack's office.


	24. Chapter 24

This really sucks, am I so sorry to say that this will be the last chapter of this story, and I am sorry I didn't warn you earlier, it snuck up on me, I swear.

I am vaguely considering a sequel, but it won't be for ages, so don't count on it. I am in my last year of school, and I have loads of course work to finish…that and I sort of kinda jumped ship…my bad. But if I have time I will get around to it. Just wait till the end of the year when I will have nothing better to do…

Please don't hate me…maybe this will make you feel better.

* * *

Chapter 24

Half an hour later Sam and Phil were running around the container yard shouting out Abi's name, "Shhh" Sam shouted, "Shut up" everyone was silent and Sam listened intently, "This way" she yelled and she ran towards a group of containers, weaving through following the sound with Phil on her heels. She found the container the sound was coming from and tried to open it. Phil took over there and used his strength to pull open the bar. Sam rushed in and started undoing the ropes binding her daughter. Phil was a moment behind her and he helped her undo the knots. Abi wrapped her arms around both of them sobbing, "You found me" she croaked. They all had tears in their eyes, though Phil was doing his best to pretend he didn't. A moment later Hugh walked in, Abi blinked at him, her eyes still adjusting to the light, then she jerked away from him, "What the hell are you doing here?" she spat.

"Abi, what's going on?" Sam asked, she could feel ice running through her veins as she realised the only person who knew enough about her to have pulled this off was standing right in front of her, but she couldn't move, she needed to hear it from Abi's lips first, "Abi?" she asked again.

"It was him mum, it was him." Abi sobbed. Sam pushed her towards Phil as she turned on Hugh.

"I can't believe I was so blind, of course it was you. Why did you do it Hugh…I can't believe you could be so _vile" _she shouted, she had been taking slow deliberate steps towards him as she spoke but now she flew at him, the slap rang across the whole yard and then there was a clang as Sam slammed him up against another shipping container. Hugh screamed in agony as Sam pulled him arm behind him back, "Don't be stupid, it doesn't hurt that much" Sam snarled. She hauled him off towards a police car and he protested the whole way.

"Sam, come on be realistic here, all the _evidence_ points to Baxter, she's confused, and rightly so being locked in a shipping container, you have to believe me, I didn't do this."

"Just tell me _why_ Hugh, I _need_ to know why" Sam snarled as she _accidentally_ bumped his head as she pushed him into the back of the police car. Something inside Hugh snapped and his face twisted into an ugly mask she didn't recognise. Sam realised that his other face, the nice smiling one, was actually the mask, this was who he really was. "Because, you need to know what it's like to love someone and then have them taken away from you, before I thought that it was only me you couldn't love but when I worked with you on the Kennedy case I realised you couldn't love anyone"

Sam almost screamed with rage, in a low voice she hissed, "And how exactly do you figure that?"

"I saw the way you treated Phil Hunter" he replied, "I'm a profiler Sam, I can see how he feels about you."

"I _do _know what that's like, more than you'll ever know. A long time ago I was seeing this guy, he was my other half, my soulmate. He's Abi's father, unfortunately I lost him, but I am also lucky enough to be one of the people who find their soulmate, not once but twice. You might be a profiler but so am I, and I know how to disguise my feelings…you know, I was going to send you an invitation to the wedding, but now –I don't think I'll bother, you can rot in gaol for all I care" Sam shouted slamming the door and glaring at him a moment longer before turning away exhausted, she sighed and smiled sadly at Tony, "You don't mind booking him in do you?" she asked and she looked so tired he agreed immediately

"Of course not, you go see how Abi's faring hey" he smiled and Sam wandered back slowly to where Abi and Phil were standing.

"Wow" Abi murmured, "You're scary" Sam couldn't help herself, over the past two weeks she had been on an emotional rollercoaster and now she just burst out laughing, as the tears fell down her cheeks. She pulled Abi into a tight bear hug and wouldn't let her go until they got back to the station.

* * *

Four hours later Abi had been fed, given coffee, and made her statement. Sam had tried to persuade her to wait till tomorrow but she had refused saying she wanted it over and done with. She had taken Sam's car home, her mother's daughter to the bone. Sam found Phil sitting at his desk finishing off some paper work. Walking over slowly she waited till her had looked up then she perched on his desk.

"Well, we found Abi, I guess we should set a date" she murmured only loud enough for him to hear. He grinned at her, "I can't believe you, I swear I am the luckiest man in the world" he murmured back leaning closer.

"What about May the 26th, it's a Saturday and it's not too close to the middle of summer but it wont be too cold either"

"Sounds perfect" Phil murmured, he glance around, "But don't you think we should let these Muppets know first?"

"Of course" Sam answered with an impish grin. She leaned forward and gently pressed her lips up against Phil's, as with the first time he had kissed her she felt a warm sensation that sent shivers down her spine and set her heart pounding. She could feel nothing but the kiss and she felt like it should last forever but even that wouldn't be long enough. Their tongues met and Sam's heart almost stopped, she was electrically aware of his tongue against hers. She felt him pull away slowly and gradually the world came back into focus. She couldn't hear a sound, but everyone _was_ staring. She looked around at them then decided to ignore it, "Come on, let's go home" she murmured. Phil smiled slightly, silently saying, _you always did hate confrontation didn't you, except when they were challenging your right to do what you wanted, I can't wait to see what happens if someone comments on our relationship in the wrong light. _"Sounds good" Phil replied grabbing his coat then the two of them walked out the door, his hand resting lightly on her waist. Sam's hand snaked around and entwined her fingers with his just before the door closed.

"Please tell me I'm not the only one who didn't see that coming" Debbie commented after they had been gone almost a full minute, "I don't think anyone saw _that_ coming" Ken replied still staring at the door with his mouth gaping open.

* * *

May 26th

Sam had never felt so happy, she walked down the aisle with a small bunch of flowers in her hand, Phil was at the end with a stupid grin on his face, identical to hers. Her father handed her over to him and they ascended the final stairs together. In front of a crowd of their close friends and colleagues they exchanged their vows. As they walked down the stairs outside the church, through a hail of confetti Sam caught a glimpse of someone watching. She turned to Phil and whispered to him, he looked up towards where she had indicated and the two of them walked over.

"Come on, we're going to the reception, do you want to join us? You never did get an opportunity to meet Abi –or Maddie" Sam said, smiling at her mother.

"Are you sure?"

"We're sure" Phil replied, "After all, it's supposed to be a happy day, no one should be left out, our old deal still stands, you can meet them but then you have to leave us alone"

Deborah nodded, "Thankyou" she whispered then she got into her car and followed them towards the venue where they were having the reception. On the way Sam and Phil had a discussion and they agreed that if Deborah made an effort to change they wouldn't chase her away, but if she reverted back to who she had been then they would tell her to…piss off. When they told Deborah she was so happy she threw her arms around Phil, "You are a good'un after all" she whispered, her voice cracking with emotion. Then she hugged Sam, "I'm glad you're happy Sammie" she murmured, Sam was surprised, all her life her mother had called her Samantha, she had hated it when people shortened it. She hugged her mum back, knowing that she was going to make an effort to change, everything was going to be fine.

* * *

There we go, happy endings all round…now about that sequel…any idea's please hit me with them, cause I am semi stuck. I will try and include them and of course credit where credit is due applies.

I would like the thanks my beta, and all my loyal readers, and of course that goes double to anyone who submitted a review. And for those entering the comp, better get your skates on…

Good luck with all your writing and keep at it.

Luv you all chez


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